26 MARCH 2010

NO RIGHT TURN — DRAWING FROM WESTERN SYDNEY features works by contemporary artists who share a connection to Western Sydney. The expressive and technical diversity of drawing, and the broad ranging potential of the drawn line is evident in the curatorial inclusion of Drew Bickford, Charles Dennington, Joyce Hinterding, Locust Jones, Catherine O’Donnell, Tom Polo, Regina Walter, David Capra, Anne Edmonds, Matthew Hopkins, Luis Martinez, Kenzee Patterson, Carla Wherby, and Kurt Schranzer. The exhibition runs at PENRITH REGIONAL GALLERY & THE LEWERS BEQUEST, EMU PLAINS, NSW, from 10 APRIL and closes 27 JUNE 2010. OPENING NIGHT is FRIDAY 16 APRIL 7–9pm.
Visit the Penrith Regional Gallery website. >>

20 JUNE 2009

Drawings have been selected for concurrent exhibitions at the Tasmanian Museum and Art Gallery, and Hazelhurst Regional Gallery.

ART ON PAPER, the HAZELHURST ART AWARD 09, opens at HAZELHURST REGIONAL GALLERY AND ARTS CENTRE, NSW, 27 JUNE–16 AUGUST 2009. Selected artists come from New South Wales, Victoria, Queensland and Western Australia. Alongside drawings there are 3-D works, photography, printmaking and paper animation.
Included is the diptych The Ocean has left its Debris on the Beach, 2008. >>
Visit the Hazelhurst Regional Gallery website. >>

The CITY OF HOBART ART PRIZE 09, DRAWING & SCULPTURE, opens SATURDAY 04 JULY and closes SUNDAY 09 AUGUST 2009. Judged by Deborah Edwards, Senior Curator of Australian Art at the Art Gallery of NSW, Jane Kinsman, Senior Curator of International Prints Drawings and Illustrated Books at the National Gallery of Australia, David Handley, Director of Sculpture by the Sea, and Jane Stewart, Coordinating Curator of Art, Tasmanian Museum and Art Gallery, the winning works will become part of the Hobart City Council’s impressive collection.
Selected for exhibition is Phantastisches Stilleben (Napoleon with Starfish and Tongues), 2008. >>
Visit the Tasmanian Museum and Art Gallery website. >>

16 MAY 2009

Work continues on THE GREAT WALLS (see news entry 12 September 2007 for a brief explanation of the series). The marquetry artworks include 2-dimensional panels and high relief sculptures, ranging in size up to 2.2 metres high x 2.4 metres wide. Presently, many of the panels are nearing completion, and work has begun on 3-dimensional works such as Thatched Tower, Porthole Wall, and a 'sinking' column.
View the NEWS ALBUM of works in progress. >>

Work in progress on Forest Wall, Bavaria (for the Brothers Grimm) for the exhibition The Great Walls
Dunheved (St. Mary’s) NSW, February 2009. Photography: Kurt Schranzer.

25 MARCH 2009

MAKING OUR TIMES, curated by Martin Wilson and Jason Martin, showcases the work of 6 artists: Tom Langlands, Luke Crouch, Mat de Moiser, Martin Wilson, Alex Lawler, and Kurt Schranzer. The exhibition runs 01 APRIL–24 APRIL 2009 at the UNIVERSITY GALLERY, THE UNIVERSITY OF NEWCASTLE, NSW. OPENING NIGHT SATURDAY 04 APRIL 4–6pm.
Visit the University Gallery website. >>

09 OCTOBER 2008

The solo exhibition PHANTASTISCHE STILLEBEN AND OTHER DRAWINGS will be opening at FLINDERS STREET GALLERY, SYDNEY, commencing 29 OCTOBER and continuing until 22 NOVEMBER 2008. OPENING NIGHT is THURSDAY 30 OCTOBER 6–8pm. 61 Flinders Street, Surry Hills, Sydney NSW 2010, opening Wed–Sat 11am–6pm, and by appointment. Flinders Street Gallery, Sydney. >>

The exhibition presents a selection of artworks 1998–2008, including current drawings from the ‘Fantastic Still-Life’ suite, previously unseen drawings c2000, and selected drawings from The Great Library, the I Shall Wrap the Sailor series, and Le cul mécanique series.

Phantastisches Stilleben (The Sentinels)
2008, ink and collage on paper, 76 x 56 cm
Signed and inscribed reverse with title, date, catalogue no. MMXXXIX
Provenance: Private Collection
Exhibited: 2008 Phantastische Stilleben and other drawings, Flinders Street Gallery, Sydney.

29 AUGUST 2008

Selections have been made for the VI INTERNATIONAL BIENNIAL OF DRAWING PILSEN 2008, in PILSEN, the CZECH REPUBLIC. The exhibition opens 04 OCTOBER at the MUSEUM OF WEST BOHEMIA, and runs from the 08 OCTOBER until 16 NOVEMBER 2008 at three city venues: the MUSEUM OF WEST BOHEMIA, JIRÍ TRNKA GALLERY, and UNIVERSITY GALLERY, Pilsen.

The International jury included Werner Schaub, President of the International Association of Art (IAA-EUROPE), Germany, and academics from the Czech Republic, Poland, England, Slovakia, and Hungary. The jury judged over 1600 works and selected 176 drawings by 112 artists from 33 countries.

5 drawings from 2004 were sent for selection: I Shall Mask the Sailor in a Constellation of Stars; Room with a Small Ocean, and a Stack of Crushed Ships; The Coming Storm; The Passionate Sailor; and Lament of the Fisherman: He Netted Only Bird-Heads, Debris, and Hints of Sea-Salt. View these artworks in the gallery. >>

28 APRIL 2008

Selections have been made for THE TALLIS FOUNDATION 2008 NATIONAL WORKS ON PAPER, opening 28 MAY and running until 06 JULY 2008, at MORNINGTON PENINSULA REGIONAL GALLERY, Mornington Peninsula, Victoria.

The biennial National Works on Paper is one of Australia’s most prestigious acquisitive awards, promoting contemporary Australian art made on or with paper. This year the exhibition is judged by Susan McCulloch, art critic and publisher of The New McCulloch’s Encyclopedia of Australian Art, Lisa Roet, artist and winner of 2003 National Works on Paper, and Jason Smith, Director, Monash Gallery of Art, Melbourne. The 46 selected artists include Gordon Bennett, G W Bot, eX de Medici, Elizabeth Gower, Patrick Hartigan, Richard Larter, Vito Manfredi, Gloria Petyarre, Scott Redford, Joan Ross, Kurt Schranzer, and Arlene TextaQueen. Visit the National Works on Paper Mornington Peninsula Regional Gallery website. >>

Selected for the exhibition is Fallen Skateboarder, 2006, ink and collage on paper. View the artwork. >>

20 NOVEMBER 2007

Final selections of works have been made for the 30 YEAR SURVEY exhibition BENT WESTERN, curated by Daniel Mudie Cunningham, opening THURSDAY 07 FEBRUARY 2008, running until 12 April 2008, at BLACKTOWN ARTS CENTRE, Blacktown NSW. Artists include Ron Adams, Lionel Bawden, Liam Benson, Drew Bickford, Michael Butler, Karen Coull, Jose Da Silva, Christopher Dean (curator of the Peter Upward survey exhibition at Penrith Regional Gallery, currently on show), Tim Hilton, Marius Jastkowiak, Erna Lilje, Jessica Olivieri, Kurt Schranzer, George Tillianakis, and Anastasia Zaravinos.

Bent Western surveys the work of queer Australian artists who have forged connections to Western Sydney—living, studying, and working there—over the last 30 years. The artists assembled have made important artistic contributions to queer culture in the region and beyond. Cunningham speaks of the vernacular term ‘bent’ being used and understood by both gay and straight communities as shorthand for queerness and gayness, so the title Bent Western might allude to The Great Western (the highway that runs west from Sydney to the Blue Mountains) as well as the ‘bent lens’ through which the artists express sexual, social, personal and cultural difference.

Daniel Mudie Cunningham is a curator, writer, and scholar whose research activities span contemporary art, popular culture and queer visual identity politics. He is currently Exhibition Coordinator and Curator at Hazelhurst Regional Gallery and Arts Centre, NSW.

Artworks included in this exhibition will cover the mid 1980s (Self-Portrait on Christmas Eve, Whilst Masturbating, 1986), the mid 1990s (drawings from the 1996 show Mysterious Decoys), and the mid 2000s (drawings from the 2004 show I Shall Wrap the Sailor, and from 2006 Le Cul Mécanique).

Self-Portrait on Christmas Eve, Whilst Masturbating
24 December 1986, acrylic on canvasboard, 20.3 x 40.6 cm
Signed and inscribed reverse with title, date, catalogue no. DLXIII
Provenance: Collection the Artist
Exhibited: 1987 The Graduating Students Exhibition, City Art Institute, Sydney. 2008 Bent Western, Blacktown Arts Centre, Blacktown, NSW.

28 OCTOBER 2007

THE KEDUMBA DRAWING AWARD 2007 opens at KEDUMBA GALLERY, Wentworth Falls, NSW. Twenty four artists from across Australia are invited to participate in this annual acquisitive $20,000 drawing award, this year to be judged by Cherry Hood. Artists for 2007 include Peter Churcher, Adam Cullen, George Gittoes, Anna Hoyle, Reg Mombassa, Peter Sharp, and Michael Zavros. Visit the Kedumba Drawing Collection website. >>

Selected for inclusion is the 2007 drawing Self-Portrait with Vase of Flowers, ink and collage on paper.

06 OCTOBER 2007

THE BORDER ART PRIZE 2007 opens at GOLD COAST CITY GALLERY, Surfers Paradise, QLD. Included is Phantastisches Stilleben (Down the Rabbit Hole) 2006, previously selected for the 2006 Dobell Prize for Drawing, Art Gallery of New South Wales, Sydney.

Phantastisches Stilleben (Down the Rabbit Hole)
2006, ink and collage on paper, 76 x 56 cm
Signed and inscribed reverse with title, date, catalogue no. MMXXXII
Provenance: Private Collection
Exhibited: 2006 Dobell Prize for Drawing, Art Gallery of New South Wales, Sydney. 2007 The Border Art Prize 2007, Gold Coast City Gallery, Surfers Paradise, QLD. 2008 Phantastische Stilleben and other drawings, Flinders Street Gallery, Sydney.

12 SEPTEMBER 2007

2007 has largely been spent planning and initiating the manufacture of a suite of artworks in marquetry—large-scale panels and a freestanding structure—under the exhibition title THE GREAT WALLS. Technically challenging and expensive in undertaking, it’s also time-consuming: Thatched Tower, for instance, will be inlaid with around 28,000 carefully burnt matchsticks.

Works in planning or in progress are Dreaming Walls, Woven Wall, Palace Wall, Thatched Tower, Porthole Wall, Star Walls, Ancient Column, Forest Wall, and Processional Wall.

The works will derive their meaning and form from the architectural element. Walls are sometimes ‘pictorial’ features within the panels; panels might act as ‘metaphoric’ or ‘conceptual’ walls; and the gallery walls themselves will become part of the spatial narrative. Beyond their design and site installation, the works will be formally, aesthetically, and poetically determined by various systems of matching veneer and the material character of rare and exotic woods; their grains, patterns, and features governed by growth and cutting method.

The artworks will be, in quite palpable ways, the result of an association with my father Josef Schranzer (born 1937, Kampach / St Paul im Lavanttal, Austria), a cabinetmaker, and a posthumous association with my grandfather Henry Moore (born 1879, Manchester, England), an engineer's patternmaker. This association is premised on the adoption of motifs and schemes used by Schranzer and Moore in their joinery, wood turning and object making practices, reflecting the traditions of their trades as well as personal, creative and aesthetic attitudes between the late 1930s and 1960s; the use of existing forms manufactured during the late 1940s by Henry Moore as an integral part of one of the artworks; and physical collaboration with Josef Schranzer in manufacturing the proposed artworks.

Beyond the obvious expressive and conceptual parameters of the project, my interest is the blurring of lines between the Fine Arts and Applied Arts areas, and the cultural transmission of motifs, patterns, and decorative standards. Implicit are questions of authorship—the replication, reinvigoration and reinterpretation of style and tradition—the way designs simply become part of a visual and aesthetic identity, acquired, reordered, and revealed in one’s own art making—a subconscious and conscious ‘aesthetic osmosis’. Tied to this is the universality of certain motifs and patterns, an omnipresence of archetypal shapes and schemes across cultures. However mediated by style, setting, materials, and technology, these motifs and visual orders have an elemental and collective resonance. Checkerboard, diamond, cube, Greek-key and other simple repeat patterns extending to complex tessellations through isometry, can be found in Tribal and Folk Art, Greek Geometric phase pottery, on the floors of Ancient Roman villas, on the walls and ceilings of the Alhambra, and within C20th abstract painting. Many basic forms and patterns are part of the phenomenological world, and this ‘taxonomy’ of forms and arrangements satisfies practical, formal, psychological and symbolic roles. Interestingly, many motifs like the checkerboard and diamond pattern relate to the harlequin and box forms of my early drawings and paintings: moreover, those early paintings often used wood veneers as part of their material and aesthetic framework.