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Exhibition Review: RAW Exhibition

Mandy Nash Make-up

RAW is an independent arts organisation, for artists, by artists, which featured 34 local artists in fashion, music, visual art, performing art, hairstylists, makeup & more.

 

Mandy Nash Make-up

Mandy Nash Make-up

Presented by RAW Natural Born Artists
Reviewed 21 November 2014

RAW natural born artists is an independent arts organisation, for artists, by artists.  Their final showcase of the year at the Producers Hotel featured the work of 34 local artists and included fashion, music, visual art, performing art, hairstylists, makeup artists and more.

The venue of the Producers Hotel created a great vibe for this event with the various separated areas teeming with foot traffic to enjoy the artworks however, for the visual art the walkways were far too narrow meaning that you could not get close to some of the artworks and you could not view them easily. This sometimes gave the visual art area the feeling of a market bazaar that did not do justice to showcase some of these beautiful works.

There was also no program of events to follow, and although this builds great excitement of discovering or stumbling upon the art, it also made it difficult to locate certain acts and therefore it was easy to miss something you were interested in seeing.

Ágota Sjöström’s optical art was a standout. Sjöström spent between 100 and 500 hours creating each piece of black and white geometric art and the results were meticulous and mesmerizing.

Linda Bell also created some beautiful Indian henna-inspired work on canvas. Amazing photographic works by Elska Studios were a highlight of the showcase and included inspiring images of nature and humanity. Other beautiful digital artwork was provided by Kellie Parry whose pictures of Surfboards at Byron Bay and Sailors in Times Square were perhaps more mainstream and decorative.

Scarlett Ruby produced some interesting bone work that would appeal to lovers of steam punk or gothic art, and Mandy Nash created detailed and colourful Day of the Dead-style make up which was both beautiful and more than a little creepy.

There was live entertainment too, most enjoyable being duo Orelia who describe themselves as a musical D and M and got the crowd grooving along.

RAW also featured interviews with artists on stage that the audience talked over the top of and seemed disinterested with. RAW exhibitions are successful in that they provide a different way to sample the magnificent art that Adelaide has to offer by combining a large range of art forms in an accessible, hip and relaxed party atmosphere.

Reviewed by Ceri Horner
Twitter: @CeriHorner

Venue: Producers Hotel, 235 Grenfell Street, Adelaide
Season: 21 November only

 

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