Exhibition Highlights of the Week #6: Focus on Photography

This is the last week of our truly sensational SUMMER exhibition, and today we would like to highlight a striking selection of photography in the show. Works by the photographers Simon Nowicki and Jerry Galea were highlighted in our previous posts. Today, we are looking at works by Tony Jackson, Peter Andrewartha, and Tony Pepper. Each of their photographs examines an aspect of Australian beach life, and, collectively, their works capture the spirit of Australian summer.

Tony Jackson, Summer 2 (no 167, photograph, $250)

Tony Jackson’s photograph takes us to the Eastern Beach Bathing Complex in Corio Bay, Geelong. The inventive camera angle and the image cropping of the diving board, the board walk, and its blue and red markings create crisp geometric patterns. The juxtaposition of the sea and wooden planks produces a textural contrast within the picture. The inclusion of the commemorative plaque in the lower left hand corner of the photograph informs the viewer of Jackson’s interest in conservation and preservation of Australian heritage sites. The photograph is a representative example of the artist’s ability to create a compositionally striking image imbued with a biographical narrative.

Peter Andrewartha, Shutting Down (no 174, photograph, $250)

Peter Andrewarta’s Shutting Down transports us to Philip Island, the source of inspiration for an important series of works, a number of which are included in our current exhibition. Similarly to Jackson’s work, the image showcases Andrewartha’s masterful handling of the medium. The increased shutter speed instantaneously captures the living, breathing ocean in all its turbulent glory. Within a single shot, Peter relates four different states of the wave – foreground stillness in the foreshore shallows, the turbulent dance of the cascading crest, menacing approach of the rolling surge, and the vaporous mists produced by the off-shore breeze. The expert positioning of the camera angle produces a complex layering of the picture plane within the image.

Tony Pepper, Zipper (no 182, photography, $250)


Tony Pepper’s Zipper was taken at Anglesea, a popular resort on the Great Ocean Road, and captures a local fairground, a traditional and quintessential part of an Australian sea-side town. The gradient blues of the twilight sky increase the saturation intensity of the garishly-coloured decorations. The crisp clarity of the static viewers in the foreground and the brightly-lit Zipper sign in the middle of the composition increase the perception of speed and energy of the spinning wheel. The precarious angle of the ride imbues the image with the sensation of movement.

The exhibition is current until Saturday, 1 February.

View complete exhibition online at http://www.quadrantgallery.com.au/summer-exhibition.html 

Exhibition Highlights of the Week #5: 

As selected by Eugene Barilo von Reisberg, Consultant, Quadrant Gallery.

Matthew WATTS, “Suntrap 2” (no 14, mixed media on paper, $320)

Eugene’s first choice as the Exhibition Highlight of the Week is “Suntrap 2” by Matthew Watts: “In the exhibition dominated by figuration, Matthew’s works naturally stand out. While I cannot be certain of Matthew’s influences, the work appeals to me because of its oblique references to Russian Constructivism and pronounced echoes of the Australian early modernist artist, Frank Hinder. It is also one of those works in the exhibition that really needs to be examined closely and in great detail, for only thusly one can truly appreciate and admire the complexity of Matthew’s drawing technique and the rich textural quality of his surfaces.”

Sue TOP, Fitting Together (no 4, collograph print, $220)

Eugene has chosen next Sue Top’s “Fitting Together”: “In a similar way to Watts’s work, Top’s collagraph prints stand out in the exhibition due to their uniqueness of subject matter and approach. It is an image that once repulses and intrigues. Sue has captured the viscerality of science and biology; the universe of dissections, test tubes, Petri dishes, and tissue samples squashed between miniature glass plates. If you wish, the most intimate, the most naked portrait of self that one can imagine. But at the same time she has created images of great beauty; of elegant colour gradations and subtle tonal variations; of compositional balance and rhythmic movement that pulsates and reverberates throughout her enigmatically imaginative works.” 

Julie CHIFFEY, “Bay of Fires 2, Tasmania” (no 108, acrylic on canvas, $370)

Eugene’s final choice for the Highlight of the Week is Julie Chiffey’s “Bay of Fires 2, Tasmania”: “The Summer Exhibition is truly remarkable for the sheer number of landscapes contained within, which showcases both the importance of Australian landscape as a continuous source of inspiration for Australian artists and the aesthetic diversity of approaches to this subject matter by the exhibiting artists. I find myself drawn to Chiffey’s painting because it conveys, almost in a Cézanne-esque manner, not only what the landscape looks like but also what individual objects within the landscape feel like. One can almost sense the full weight of those huge, grey, cold granite boulders in the middle ground of the composition. The clear definition of the shapes and colour blocking within Chiffey’s paintings places her works within the context of the Australian modernist tradition and display echoes of Fred Williams and Michael Shannon.”

The exhibition is current until Saturday, 1 February.

View complete exhibition online at http://www.quadrantgallery.com.au/summer-exhibition.html 

Exhibition Highlights of the Week #4 – as selected by Tony Jackson, Director, Quadrant Design Architects.

Jerry GALEA, “Untitled” (no 1, photography and mixed media on paper, $500)

Tony Jackson’s first choice for the Exhibition Highlight of the Week is “Untitled”, by Jerry Galea, professional photographer and freelance photojournalist for leading national and international periodicals. “I am drawn to this image because it conjures up the feeling of a hot summer night, when the last light of the dusk creates its own shapes and shadows, and immerses the landscape in meditative and contemplative mood. It is an image that is at once laconically simple and compositionally complex; tonally subtle yet texturally rich.” 

Ross MILLER, “The Boat – La Barca” (no 121, bronze sculpture, $1,000)

Tony has also singled out “The Boat – La Barca”, by the sculptor Ross Miller. “This is a delightful scene embodied in a minimalist and compressed way. It really captures in my opinion the romance of Venice and the summery feel of lazy afternoons by the canal. The verdigris patination of the bronze sculpture conveys something of that all-pervading aroma of the famous canals, lagoons, and innumerable waterways. The elevated platform of the sculpture suggests a setting for a drama; its descending steps create an illusion, a nexus to the underworld.”

Jane WILSON, “From the Verandah” (no 88, water-soluble oils, $550)

Tony Jackson’s third Exhibition Highlight of the Week is “From the Veranda”, by Jane Wilson. “The simplicity and originality of the composition, its unusual cropping, the artist’s skills, and surface textures are delightful in this picture. It truly captures how the crows – or in this case butcher birds – love hanging out in the field with that inimitable attitude. I readily respond to the way in which Wilson depicts the birds. There is always that mixture of humour and menace that makes you wonder just what are they thinking about when they stare at you. I feel that that clump of trees in the background is a haven that the birds might need, for they are not as tough as they would like to appear, and will retreat into the trees then time comes.”

 The exhibition is current until Saturday, 1 February.

View complete exhibition online at http://www.quadrantgallery.com.au/summer-exhibition.html