Daily Art Fixx

visual arts blog, painting, drawing, sculpture, illustration and more!

Jeremy Geddes: exhale @ Jonathan Levine Gallery

By

Acedia-Jeremy-Geddes

Melbourne, Australia based artist Jeremy Geddes, opened his first solo exhibition in the United States at the Jonathan Levine Gallery in New York last weekend.

“exhale is a series of 17 paintings rendered in meticulous detail, an arduous process that combines scrupulous observation, fine brushwork and delicate layers of glaze. Geddes’ work generates a tension between man-made environments in flux and the fragility of living bodies.

Many of the works in the exhibition depict figures suspended in desolate urban landscapes or fractured environments that are in the process of falling apart. These complex works are contrasted by a series of five paintings titled Misèrere (Italian for have mercy), each features a single subject isolated in a solid black plane—alternating birds and a failing Apollo Command Service Module. This series is accompanied by four paintings with solitary human figures, titled Misère (French for poverty or destitution).

Although there are recurring motifs in the paintings, Geddes prefers to leave his subject matter open to interpretation rather than attach a specific narrative to his work, thus allowing individual viewers to connect disparate elements into a structure that resonates with them personally.” (from Jonathan Levine Gallery)

exhale runs through November 17, 2012.  For more information visit Jonathan Levine Gallery or JeremyGeddesArt.com.

Damien Kamholtz: Boats Like Feathers @ ArtHouse Gallery

By

“Damien Kamholtz is a visual artist based in Toowoomba, Australia. His paintings have been selected as finalists in the Brett Whitely Travelling Art Scholarship twice and he has been a finalist in such shows as the Churchie Art Award, the Prometheus Visual Arts Award and, more recently, the Sulman Prize. Damien is a lecturer at the University of Southern Queensland, currently teaching Art and Pedagogy for the education faculty.  He has also taught there for the Arts Faculty. Prior to that he taught at the Southern Queensland Institute of TAFE and has coordinated art programs within acute mental Health Units for Queensland Health.”(from Anthea Polson Art)

Kamholtz’s current exhibition “Boats Like Feathers” brings together the child and adult in a soft and vibrant world of narrative and metaphor evoked through Damien Kamholtz’s deeply layered and nostalgic work, rich with a story unique to each viewer if they are willing to take part in the journey. (from Arthouse Gallery)

To see more, visit ArtHouseGallery.com.au and Anthea Polson Art.


Scott Marr: Painting/Pyrography

By

Bull-Ship-ScotMarr-2012The latest work from Australian artist Scott Marr.  Marr’s new collection continues his unique technique of drawing using pyrography and painting with natural pigments, predominantly from the bush.

By the time Scott Marr sits down at the easel, his works of art are already well underway. A large part of Scott’s artistic practice is comprised of the identification, collection and preparation of an astounding range of natural pigments. His bush pigments are unpredictable by nature, ensuring that each work of art is imbued with a genuine uniqueness. The variable palette reflects the dynamic and seasonal character of the natural world, where no two days or places are the same. Scott says, “Over the past few years, I’ve been experimenting with the extraction and application of natural pigments. I now feel my experimentation has become my applied practice. This confidence together with the discovery of new colours has opened up new dimensions for my art”.

To see more of Marr’s work, visit ScottMarr.blogspot.com or Katoomba Fine Art.

Ken Wong: Digital Illustration

By

Ken Wong is an Australian digital artist, designer, and art director currently based in Shanghai, China. Ken studied multimedia at the University of South Australia but says “I learned most of what I know about art from reading books and involving myself in online art communities. The internet is a great environment for digital artists to learn from each other and advance their skills.”(1)

To see more, visit Kenart.net or Wong’s profile on Deviant Art.

Michael Peck: Painting

By

Born in 1977 in Melbourne, Australia, Michael Peck has a Bachelor (Honours) of Fine Art  from Monash University and a Graduate diploma in education from Melbourne University.

In his latest body of work entitled “The Landing”, Peck explores his relationship with his two grandfathers using crashed World War II planes as seen through the eyes of children.  “Both men passed away within months of each other in 2010, prompting Michael to contemplate how little he knew about their lives and consider our inherited experiences of conflict across generations.”

To see more, visit MichaelPeckArt.com or Metro Gallery.

Discoverd via Arrested Motion

Dale Frank: Abstract Painting

By

Born in 1959, Australian painter Dale Frank’s career spans more than twenty years. Frank’s work has been exhibited around the globe in numerous solo and group exhibitions including the Venice Biennale (1984), Sydney Biennale (1990), and the Museum of Contemporary Art, Sydney (2000). His paintings are held in every major public collection in Australia and in numerous private and corporate collections in Australia, Europe and the U.S. In 2005 Frank won The Arthur Guy Memorial Painting Prize at the Bendigo Art Gallery, Victoria. A major monograph on Frank’s work “So Far: the Art of Dale Frank 2005-1980”, was published in 2007.

Frank’s paintings involve the merging of numerous vivid colours together on one surface. “These colours collide and separate from one another with dramatic effect, taking on the appearance of cut-marble or reptile-skin patternings. His painting process is not one that is quick or unconscious. Canvases are titled at different angles every fifteen minutes, allowing the paint to move and leave its mark until the varnish is set and the desired image is achieved. This can take anywhere from six to twenty-four hours of continuous attention to one painting.” (from Gow Langsford Gallery)

To see more, visit Roslyn.Noxley9Gallery.au.

James Corbett: Car Part Sculptor

By

Queensland Australia artist James Corbett began making sculptures from old car parts in 1999 while running an auto recycling business in Brisbane. A year and a half later, he turned to sculpting full time.

Corbett does not bend any of the parts into shape so the unique integrity of each car part is maintained. “The parts themselves are often interesting, some are as much as eighty years old”, says James.

Corbett’s sculptures are in private collections in Australia,  England, Switzerland, New Zealand, Japan, the United Arab Emirates and the U.S.A.. For more information about James, visit JamesCorbettArt.com.

Ron Mueck: Hyperrealism

By

Hyperrealist sculptor Ron Mueck was born in 1958 in Melbourne Australia.  His parents were toy makers so as a child he participated in the creation of puppets and costumes.  With no other formal art education, Mueck was able to establish a career making models for film and television including Labyrinth and puppets for Sesame Street. Mueck then established his own production company in London, making photo-realistic props and animatronics for the advertising industry.

Since 1996, Mueck has devoted himself full-time to his art.  Though incredibly lifelike, his pieces are always either smaller than life-size or enormous.  Mueck has used fiberglass to create his sculptures  and has started using silicone, a more flexible material that is easier to shape.

Muecks’s works are detailed down to the last mole, the last wrinkle, and the last stubble of hair. The technical skill required to produce such intricate sculptures is mind-boggling.  But even from a photo, one can tell, the power of his sculptures lay not only in the detail or scale, but in the emotions his characters convey – vulnerability, loneliness, boredom – the emotions of every day life.

Mueck has had a number of solo and group exhibitions around the world. In 1999 he was appointed to a two year post as Associate Artist at the National Gallery, London. In 2002 his sculpture Pregnant Woman was purchased by the National Gallery of Australia for AU$800,000.

For more information about Ron Mueck visit Wikipedia,  Artcylopedia, or the source links below.

Sources: Brooklyn Museum, Cybermuse, Wikipedia

Andy Warde: Painting

By

voice-inside-my-head-andy-warde

Andy Warde was born in 1978 and grew up in southern California. He moved from the USA to the Gold Coast, Australia in 2006. A self taught artist,  Warde’s work has consisted of anything from various skateboard graphics and surfboard resin tints, to his main focus of large scale oil painting.

Warde’s recent works are paintings in which he brings a world of characters and objects together,  creating something that can be looked fort its fine details, but also as an overall picture from a quick glance. “Showing how I view myself and other humans and animals in the society we live in. I enjoy when a viewer tells me they can’t stop staring at a painting and they see new things every time.” (bio from 19 Karen Gallery)

To see more visit AndyWarde.com.

Del Kathryn Barton: Painting

By

thats_when_i_was_another_tree_2-del-kathryn-barton

Born in 1972, Del Kathryn Barton currently lives and works in Sydney, Australia. Barton has a Bachelor of Arts from the College of Fine Arts at the University of New South Wales where she has also lectured on drawing. Painting, sculpture and drawing are an integral part of Barton’s practice, drawing imagery from the human form and experience.

Since her first exhibition at Arthaus Gallery in Sydney in 1995, Barton has held several major solo shows as well as participating in numerous group exhibitions in Australia, New York, and Sao Paolo, Brazil.

Barton has been featured on the cover of Australian Art Collector and is listed as “Australia’s Most Collectible Australian Artist” by Australian Art Collector in 2007. Barton was awarded the Archibald Prize in 2008 and was a finalist in 2007.

For more information about Del Kathryn Barton, visit Karen Woodbury Gallery.