June 2008
Congratulations
Jackson Slattery has been announced as the winner of the People’s Choice Award in the prestigious Metro 5 Art Award 2008. The Acquisitive award has a total prize of $50,000 with $10,000 going to the People’s Choice. His painting will become a part of the gallery’s permanent collection. The twenty finalist’s works will be hung at Metro 5 Gallery until July 6 2008.
Jackson will be exhibiting next at Sullivan + Strumpf Fine Art from 12 – 31 August 2008 in a group exhibition.
University of Queensland Art Museum has purchased Darren Sylvester’s sculpture Misscoria Crystal Collagen, following his solo exhibition at SSFA in February.
2008 is a big year for Sylvester with several significant exhibitions lined up including a major survey show, Our Future Was Ours, at Australian Centre for Photography, 25 July – 30 August, and the group shows FX in Contemporary Photography at McClelland Gallery, 18 May – 10 August, The Dating Show, at the Institute of Modern Art, Qld, 27 June – 27 July and Neo Goth: Back in Black at the University of Queensland, 25 July – 21 September.
A Sam Leach work has been acquired by La Trobe University.
Darren Wardle has gained representation with Luxe Gallery in New York following a six month Australia Council for the Arts studio residency in Brooklyn. Luxe showed Wardle’s work at the Sofia Bulgaria Art Fair and the CIGE Fair in Beijing this year and will present his first solo exhibition in 2009. Wardle's paintings explore the extended possibilities of the painting process, resulting in seamless, nearly cinematic urban landscapes. Wardle’s first solo exhibition at SSFA is in December 2008.
Emily Portmann’s work is included in a new photographic publication, HIJACKED. The book (available in bookstores) presents a diversity of Australian and American photography and is accompanied by a DVD featuring interviews with several of the artists including Emily. HIJACKED will be exhibited at Australian Centre for Photography from 12 June - 19 July.
Tom Polo’s work appears in an edition of Runway magazine, released 10 May. Runway is an independent, artist driven project primarily focussing on visual arts in Sydney which is aimed at enabling artists to participate on a level beside and beyond exhibiting.
Emily Portmann and Tom Polo are both finalists in the prestigious Churchie National Emerging Artists exhibition, Brisbane. The exhibition offers an inspiring glimpse into the future of the Australian art scene with the overall winner earning a $10,000 prize.
Jackson Slattery is a finalist in the 2008 Metro 5 Art Award. The acquisitive award is Australia’s richest prize for young painters under 35 with the winner garnering $50,000. An exhibition of the finalists’ work may be viewed at Metro 5 (Melbourne) from 29 May -1 June.
Go See...
Sydney Ball’s painting Untitled (Persian Series) 1967 will feature in an exhibition This Way Up which documents key post war abstract movements as represented in the La Trobe University Art Collection. The exhibition will be held at Bundoora Homestead Art Centre, 30 May – 2 July.
Kate Shaw’s solo exhibition will be on display at 24hrArt in Darwin from 20 June to 26 July. The exhibition will feature works produced in her recent residency at the centre.
Sherrie Knipe’s work In Sink is unveiled on 27 May at Monash Gallery of Art, Melbourne. This large aluminium sculpture consists of three over-sized, warped “sink plugs”. It’s a quirky and hauntingly beautiful work.
Jackson Slattery’s work will be exhibited along with the work of some other exciting emerging artists as part of Exploration 08 at Flinders Lane Gallery, Melbourne, 22 May - 8 June.
Next at SSFA
Melbourne Art Fair
July/August
The 2008 Melbourne Art Fair is almost upon us and we are thrilled to be presenting new work from Penny Byrne and VR Morrison at this year’s fair. For those of you who can’t make it to the MAF, we will be previewing the work at SSFA in July, before the journey south.
Tom Polo/ Emily Portmann/Laith McGregor/Jackson Slattery
12 – 31 August
Our August exhibition presents four dynamic emerging artists under 30. Each young artist contributes a unique perspective to contemporary Australian art and they work in mediums including photography, watercolour, biro and installation.
April 2008
Congratulations
Juan Ford has recently completed a major commission for the Monash University Museum of Art. His portrait of Richard Larkin, university professor and chair of Vice-Chancellors Australia, joins over 1200 other works in the prestigious collection. Artists such as Arthur Boyd, Rupert Bunny, William Dobell, Sidney Nolan, Clifton Pugh, John Perceval and Tom Roberts, Charles Blackman, John Brack, Robert Dickerson, Leonard French and Roger Kemp are represented.
The Monash University Collection was established in 1961 with the objective of founding a collection of contemporary Australian art that would be on public display throughout University buildings and would act as an educational resource. The collection has grown to represent a leading overview of Australian art, spanning a variety of media and artistic styles.
Emily Portmann is a finalist in the 2008 Josephine Ulrick and Win Schubert Foundation for the Arts Photography Award. The $10,000 acquisitive award is a compelling insight into the current concerns among artists using photography and has become a key exhibition in the contemporary art calendar. Gold Coast City Art Gallery, 5 April – 18 May 2008.
Kate Shaw has been awarded a residency at 24HR Art in Darwin for May and June of this year. Established in 1990, 24HR Art is a non-profit organisation which is dedicated to the promotion and support of contemporary visual art within the Northern Territory. The centre offers a varied program consisting of exhibitions of emerging and established artists, interdisciplinary and multimedia projects, artist talks, themed forums and professional development workshops.
Go See
Juan Ford is currently exhibiting in the group exhibition The Space in Between at Bendigo Art Gallery. The touring exhibition, curated by Tara Gilbee, includes the work of 32 artists. Each artist was asked to respond to the internal space of a book which had been carved and presented to them for artistic intervention. The result is an array of inspiring sculptural, installation, drawing and photographic works. Bendigo Art Gallery, 15 March – 13 April.
Ford is also showing in group exhibition Eye to ‘i ‘ – The Self in Recent Art at Hamilton Art Gallery, Victoria. The touring exhibition, curated by Geoffrey Wallis, presents the diverse ways in which contemporary Australian artists have explored issues surrounding personal identity. Hamilton Art Gallery, 9 April – 25 May.
Sam Leach is currently exhibiting in the group show Bal Tashchit: Thou Shalt Not Destroy - The Environment in Biblical and Rabbinic Sources at the Jewish Museum of Australia. Jewish and non-Jewish artists were invited to respond to the earliest readings of the Torah and re-contextualise its content in a contemporary framework in relation to environmental issues. Jewish Museum of Australia, St Kilda, Victoria 6 April – 29 June
Next at SSFA
Private Treaty
13 May – 8 June
Sullivan + Strumpf Fine Art present an exhibition of works by prominent Australian contemporary artists. Including works by Anne Wallace, Howard Arkley and Julie Dowling.
Julie Dowling’s The Visitors, 2002, features as a major work in the exhibition. Born in Perth in 1969, Dowling’s paintings are adaptations of Western portraiture and depict the experiences of her Aboriginal family. A central focus of her work is the strength and resilience of Indigenous women in the face of the challenges that have been inflicted upon them since colonialism.
The Visitors is a significant example of Dowling’s work and incorporates her trademark use of bright colours and glitter. The work explores the separation of families living in remote communities as a growing number of Indigenous people move to urban areas in search of work.
March 2008
MARCH 08
Congratulations
Sam Leach is a finalist in the 2008 Archibald Prize and Marc de Jong is a finalist in the 2008 Wynne Prize, both on at the Art Gallery of New South Wales until May. These prizes are some of Australia's the oldest and most famous.
Sebastian di Mauro has been awarded a Studio Residency in central Barcelona for January – April 2009 through the Australia Council. The $10,000 residency is a part of the Council’s Skills and Development Program that promotes excellence in the arts by providing professional development opportunities to artists who have demonstrated a high degree of artistic merit in their work to date.
Di Mauro has also been announced as a finalist in the prestigious Helen Lempriere National Sculpture Award (Folly pictured above). As Australia’s richest annual prize for sculptors in Australia, the annual award fosters and promotes contemporary Australian sculpture. Finalist’s works will be exhibited at Werribee Park from 28 February – 31 May 2008
Sam Leach appeared on the ABC’s Sunday Arts program on the 2nd of March as a part of their series Australian Artists of Tomorrow which profiles emerging artists. The broadcast is available to download from the ABC website, www.abc.net.au/tv/sundayarts, until March 16. Leach will be exhibiting at SSFA from 18 March – 6 April.
Penny Byrne has been asked to speak in a forum which is part of the Sidney Myer Fund International Ceramic Award at Shepparton Art Gallery. The award was established in 1997 to provide an unprecedented opportunity for a major international ceramic award and exhibition in Australia. Byrne will also be conducting a ceramics conservation workshop as a part of an accompanying program aimed at providing cross-cultural learning and exchange. 7 March – 27 April, Shepparton Art Gallery.
Therese Howard has been commissioned to create an artwork for the University of Western Australia Cosmology Gallery’s permanent collection. The collection will consist of site specific light and sound installations as well as sculpture, digital prints and paintings that compare scientific knowledge about the birth of the universe and the origin of life with traditional Dreamtime, Judeo Christian, Buddhist and Hindi Cosmologies. Exhibiting artists include Marion Borgelt, Rodney Glick, Cris Hill, Sohan Hayes, Mabel Juli, Eveline Kotai, Toogar Morrison, Perdita Phillips, Audrey Satar and David Sequeira. The collection was opened on 9 March by the director of the Art Gallery of Western Australia Gary Dufour.
Diary Dates
Darren Sylvester will be showing two of his video works, Don’t Lose Yourself in Tomorrow, 2004 and You Should Let Go of a Dying Relationship, 2006, in a season of artists’ videos at the Rooftop Cinema, Curtin House, 252 Swanston Street Melbourne, 2 – 15 March.
Sylvester will also be exhibiting in group show, Décor, at Glen Eira City Council Gallery. The exhibition includes some of Australia’s most highly regarded artists and runs from 12 – 30 March.
Kate Shaw is currently exhibiting in a group show, The Ides of March at ABC NO Rio in New York. The gallery was founded in 1980 by visual artists committed to political and social engagement. Their fifth annual group exhibition features artist collaborations, artist groups and artist collectives on all four floors of the building. 14 March – 4 April.
Juan Ford, VR Morrison and Darren Sylvester will all be exhibiting in the University of Queensland Art Museum's upcoming show, Neo Goth: Back in Black. This exciting exhibition will explore the dark underbelly of contemporary Australian culture as it is manifested across art, fashion, film and literature. 25 July – 21 September.
Next at SSFA
Kate Shaw
Redux 15 April – 4 May
Shaw expands the limits of painting, representations of landscape and the application of paint with her densely layered marbleized paint pours encased in resin. Her next exhibition is an exploration of the drastic effects of global warming and environmental degradation.
Shaw graduated with a Batchelor of Arts (Fine Arts) Honours at RMIT University in 1994 before completing a Diploma of Museum Studies at Deakin University in 1997. In 2007 she was highly commended in the ABN Amro Emerging Artists Award, was a finalist in the Fisher’s Ghost Award and received an Arts Victoria International Fund Export and Touring Grant.
SSFA Gallery Expansion
We are excited to announce that Sullivan + Strumpf Fine Art will be expanding in early 2008. SSFA will now incorporate both the street-level gallery and upstairs viewing spaces of the terrace.
SSFA started out exhibiting 7 artists in 2005 and over the past few years this number has grown to 19. The increased gallery and stockroom space will accommodate this expansion and will enable visitors to the gallery to view more of our artists’ work.
International Art Fairs
Ursula Sullivan has just returned from a busy trip to London where she attended Frieze and Zoo Art Fairs.
Both fairs project the excitement and energy that is alive within the contemporary art market and have become major events in the art calendar. Now in its 5th Year, Frieze Art Fair features 1000 artists and 150 of the world’s most dynamic contemporary art galleries. Zoo Art Fair has been running for 4 years and showcases emerging contemporary art talent from 61 arts organisations.