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Stone’s Throw – various artists

The Idea of Progress II by Renate NisiAdelaide Central Gallery
Adelaide Central School of Art, 45 Osmond Terrace, Norwood
Tel 8364 2809
[email protected]
http://www.acsa.sa.edu.au

Exhibition dates: 19 March- 17 April

Gallery hours: Mon-Thurs 9 – 7pm Fri 9 – 5pm, Sat 11 – 4pm, then 12-23 April: Mon – Fri 9 – 5pm, Sat 11 –4pm. Closed Easter Fri, Sat & Mon.

Stone’s Throw opened on Friday to the pride and joy of the exhibiting artists using their ‘language’ of sculpture. It was to the pleasure of all present and particularly the guest speaker, artist Nic Folland, who explained the wonders of the found objects, brought to a new reality at the artist’s hand. The curator, Julia Robinson seems to have tapped into the transcending qualities, which is common thread through the physical embodiment of all the works represented.

Kate Morkunas’s, Still Life in the Evening, Still Life after Work, Still Life in the Afternoon, and Still Life in the Morning, are elegant, wire frame creations of the modernist era (made using thin wire and fine soldering). It is ‘fast forwarded’ to our present time using wire forming perfect circles of cups, percolator, bottles and glasses. The minimal line work is elegant and decorations speak and elevate the objects to a higher plane, where one is reminded of the many shared coffees and wines one has consumed. As Julia Robinson writes on the back of the catalogue, “The glass is definitely half full in Morkunas’s world”.

Kate Benda’s Book-scape appears to have its origins in the abstract language of coloured shapes, until one looks closer, and authors’ names and book titles reveal thoughts of connections, emotions, memory and a new level is reached in the idea of journeying, gathering information, entertainment, and inspiration. Our relationship with books is on an intimate level, constantly holding them, turning pages, or resting them close to the heart in contemplation, so different to the instant, digital era of the touch screen, which admittedly also has its purposes. Book-scape appears to be a celebration of the tradition of books, and the people that have read them previously.

Mary Coventry’s, 2 on 2 Stack, is a work so closely related to life, the newness, the broken, the imperfections, the beautiful organic lines in nature and the symmetry in a flower. Here we see ordinary pieces of wood, broken furniture and, at the artist’s hand, used as collective of pieces to make a new reality, ‘drawing’ from gravity.

Renata Nesi’s Lost Buddha Turns Up in the City appears (in combination with its title) to represent a loss of ideals, to be re-found in a renewal and awareness of a contemporary state connecting place and ‘being’, an elevation of the spirit. It would be good to have known the meaning of the red calligraphy circle placed on the hip. Nesi’s other works, The Idea of Progress I and II, speak in the language of the state of Nirvana.

Lauren Anderson’s sculpture dogs, Bad Lucky Nos. 1-5, have strong geometric execution. They are placed in a random grouping near the centre of the gallery, seemingly alert to the visitors entering the space, as if guarding the works.

Reviewed by Gina De Pieri Salvi, Glam Adelaide Visual Arts Critic.

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