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Fiona Tan in Sydney

I experienced Fiona Tan’s work over two days – not because it was an extended durational work but because her show, Coming Home, was being presented at both the Sherman Contemporary Art Foundation and the National Art School Gallery. The fact that the experience of the video works was a journey was the perfect mode of experiential presentation of a work that itself explores the idea of journey and its representation through time.

Melanie Boreham in Sydney

When I entered the solo show of Melanie Boreham at Hardware Gallery, I entered a forest. Suspended from different heights from the ceiling were forty bonsai-sized trees. These floating trees captivated me immediately because of their defiance of gravity, floating in a dream-like constellation. But the trees captivated me more because they were woven and constructed out of human hair.

A Celebration of the Visual Arts: Art Month Sydney

On a cool overcast March morning, I navigated the streets of the heavily residential Elizabeth Bay neighborhood to find Michael Reid’s gallery and talk to the owner about his role as co-creator (with Vasili Kaliman of Kaliman Gallery) of Art Month Sydney. The initiative, now in its first year, celebrates the visual arts in Sydney over the whole month of March, bringing together over 70 galleries, ARIs (Artist-Run Initiatives) and other organizations to host over 140 events. It is a feast, it is a celebration, it is an incredible force of art.

Scott Elk in Sydney

Billowing on banners, printed on posters and featured in multiple venues around Sydney, the artwork of Scott Elk is enjoying great exposure, and for good reason. The Sydney-born artist’s illustrations mix media from photography to screen prints, from design elements to typography. The modern amalgams instantly come across as multi-layered works reflecting a depth of thought and artistic practice. Whether exploring issues of queer identity or playing with variations in typography, Scott Elk represents a leading voice in queer art through his powerful and evocative work.

Showcasing Talent at the Australian Centre for Photography

Since I arrived in Sydney, arts-minded people of all walks of life have been pointing me towards the Australian Centre for Photography (ACP). For over 37 years, the ACP has been exhibiting works of both Australian and international photographers. My expectations were thus set reasonably high when I visited for the first time, for the opening of their current shows. The simple modern spaces were impressive and fertile ground for exhibiting artistic talent. While I could sense the talent in a few photographers on exhibition, shortcomings in production, in one case, and in curation, in the other, left me feeling ... More » »

Retelling Histories at Artspace in Sydney

Since the early 1980s, Artspace Visual Arts Centre has established itself as a centre for residency-based contemporary installation art both by Australian and international artists. The three installations currently on display at Artspace only reinforces that fact. Each of the works serves as a rich deconstruction of history, exposing multiple layers of events past. With complex stories from Australia, Brazil, Canada and beyond, Artspace’s current offerings deserve full attention and complete immersion. The experience presents pathways of historical reinterpretation worthy of consideration.

Lynette Wallworth at the Sydney Festival

PREFACE: I write to you from Sydney, Australia, my location for the next 6 months where I am trying my hand at a new adventure before pursuing my MA in Art History in the Fall. I am discovering a whole new art scene and deciphering a completely new national discourse. Below is my first Aussie review, a reflection on a show by Lynette Wallworth presented within the Sydney Festival. While both the exhibit and the festival are now over, Wallworth’s works were too good not to share. And the venue, CarriageWorks, will surely showcase some more intriguing and powerful work ... More » »

Raymonde April times four, in Montreal

To experience Raymonde April’s current exhibits is to experience the underpinnings of process, display and the creation of meaning. Equivalences 1-4, a not-so-subtle nod to Alfred Stieglitz’s Equivalent series, showcases four different bodies of work — 3 photo collections and 1 video work — in three different spaces in Montreal. April, who was awarded the 2005 Career Achievement Award for Art Photography from the Ontario Arts Foundation, worked with curator Eduardo Ralickas to mine the photographer’s recent images and archive in order to find sequences. Working with the idea that photos and their perceived meaning are informed by their printing, ... More » »

Representation Reconsidered in Montreal

Lately, I’ve noticed that colour and Quebec seem to go hand in hand. From the Claude Tousignant retrospective last year and the Francine Savard show currently at the MAC, colour has been the subject of objective consideration – not being used as a means to enliven a work of art but as a way to express ideas about the creation of art. The works of architect/artist Rodney LaTourelle and multimedia artist and performer Matthew Biederman are no exception. The moment you walk into the Centre de design de l’Université du Québec À Montréal (UQAM) space, your eyes grow wide with ... More » »

Beyond the Canvas: Francine Savard at the Musee d’Art Contemporain de Montreal

My brain was buzzing when I left the Francine Savard mid-career retrospective at the Musee d’Art Contemporain de Montreal (MACM) curated by Lesley Johnstone. The 60 works on display express intellectual and philosophical ideas with such refined and graphic precision. Savard’s work, obviously drawing from the local tradition of Plasticiens (a non-figurative movement which began in the mid-1950s in Quebec and included Stella-like works from artists such as Guido Molinari, Claude Tousignant and Fernand Leduc), incorporates text, typography, colour and structure in a reflective way that encourages the viewer to rethink art history, geography, analysis and representation.