.net.au


collage.net.au
Swiped from williamnyk.
Recently visited 2 back to back art exhibitions at The Annexe Gallery, Central Market. The first was Tim Craker and Louise Saxton's dot-net-dot-au.

"...Saxton and Craker are concerned with identifying the threads of commonality that link their Malaysian experiences with their Australian lives - from the mutually-sustaining human traditions of ritual, food and decorative arts to the global stresses on a fragile, shared environment."

Saxton predominantly used the bridal veil and embroidory as her medium. I especially liked "Re-collection: arachnida bellis perennis - daisy spider" and a recreation of a 7th-century Cambodian Buddha head with lace. The former was a marriage of entomology with the arts, as Saxton made detailed sillhouttes of Malaysian arachnids with her large collection of hand-embroidered table linen and lace. The former was a fantastic recreation of a Buddha head. She suspended it in mid-air giving an illusion that Buddha was watching from above.

Craker on the other hand preferred to use mass-produced, everyday items. "Thought Pattern" was my favourite piece as he used moulded plastic spoons (tapao chicken rice) to create a mesh of hexagons that represents the sharing of food. The shadow that the piece cast on the wall added depth to it. In his "Botanical Data Files" series, orange safety netting was used to good effect juxtapose nature against our environmentally-destructive ways.

The second exhibition I saw was Simon Keogh's Please Touch. Normally one sees "Please Do Not Touch", but this is not the case with Keogh's art. Visitors are supposed to touch his art and interact with it. Interesting jigsaw woodwork, fused with wires, masking tape make for an interesting sensory experience. Other concepts include slabs of dried acrylic paint with cracks and ripples frozen in time. But I enjoyed "dot-net-dot-au" more.

That filled my art-fartsy quota for July.

Comments

Twilight Man said…
Interesting! You're an IT fella with artist's eye! I'm going there soon.
Jaded Jeremy said…
"That filled my art-fartsy quota for July."

Ummm quota for half a year at least.
William said…
@Twilight:
Both exhibitions have ended!

@Legs:
Tell that to Jaylex.

@JJ:
I might get the chance anymore since not permanently at CM there.

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