Page 79 - The Venice Biennale 2001 issue of World of Art Magazine

ART in AusTRALiA reVieWS

a number of themes relevant to contemporary nATiOnAL gALLeRy Of Beckett have only recently started to receive
art through mark-making on paper. AusTRALiA the attention they deserve.
gpO box 1150
cAnbeRRA AcT 2601 fRiDA kAhLO, DiegO RiveRA AnD
phOTOgRAphy fROm OuR RegiOn phone +61 2 6240 6431 fAx +61 2 6240 6561 mexicAn mODeRnism: The JAcQues
21 JuLy - nOvembeR 2001 www.nga.gov.au AnD nATAshA
This collection-based exhibition includes geLmAn cOLLecTiOn
contemporary works from new Zealand, 13 JuLy - 28 OcTObeR 2001
eisLAnDs in The sun:
Australia, Japan and South korea. Photography pRinTs fROm The OceAnic cOLLecTiOn The haunting self-portraits of the Mexican
within these countries is recognised as being 17 febRuARy-23 sepTembeR 2001 artist Frida Kahlo are renowned for their
a significant force in recent art practice. The indigenous peoples of the Oceanic region dream-like quality and emotional intensity.
Amongst the artists represented are Peter share the same recent history. A strong and passionate individual, Kahlo
overcame injury and
Peryer, laurence Aberhart, Anne noble, koo Colonised by Europeans, they have all had personal hardship
Bohn-chang, Yasumasa Morimura, kozo to struggle to maintain their individual to become one of
cultural identities. In each of these societies
Miyoshi, rosemary laing, Ella dreyfus and Jon the world’s best-
the arts flourish and are characterised by a
rhodes. on display in gallery 15. known woman artists.
renewed interest in traditional images, designs Celebrated by the
and narratives. The exhibition presents Surrealists in her
contemporary woodcuts, screenprints and
museum Of lithographs by the indigenous peoples own lifetime, Kahlo
has attained cult-like
cOnTempORARy ART, of mainland status for her art
Australia, Torres Strait, Bathurst Island,
syDney Nighini, Aorearoa and Samoa - where and her tempestuous
140 george street, the rocks, sydney printmaking has proved vital in making the love life with Diego
Rivera, Mexico’s
phone: +61 2 9252 4033 visual arts widely accessible. most prominent
email: adavis@mca.com.au modern painter. An
JApAn AnD AusTRALiA - outstanding selection of works by Kahlo and
22 June - 19 AugusT 2001 A ceRAmic DiALOgue Rivera forms the centrepiece of the Jacques
When eLephAnTs pAinT 31 mARch-16 sepTembeR 2001 and Natasha Gelman collection, regarded
kOmAR AnD meLAmiD, The AsiAn This exhibition from the National Gallery as the most significant private holding of
eLephAnT ART & cOnseRvATiOn of Australia’s ceramic collection, shows 20th century Mexican art. Jacques Gelman,
pROJecT some of the influences of Japanese ceramic the Russian emigre film producer, and his wife
An exhibition by new York-based russian traditions and methods on Natasha built up the collection over many
artists Vitaly komar and Alexander Melamid Australian potters. During the past thirty years of acquaintance and collaboration with
of paintings created by elephants from years, a number of Japanese potters lived and Mexico’s greatest creative artists. Including
The Asian Elephant Art & conservation worked in Australia, often in collaboration work by other famous painters such as José
with local practitioners. While their work was Clemente Orozco, David Alfaro Siqueiros
Project (AEAcP).
based on Japanese traditional and regional and Rufino Tamayo, this exhibition will
The AEAcP was established by conceptual
techniques, it also began to reflect their showcase Kahlo’s and Rivera’s work and
artists komar & Melamid in 1997 as a means
experiences of the Australian environment. present them in the context of a broader
of raising awareness of the plight of Asian
In turn, many Australian potters, a number history of Mexican modernism.
elephants whose numbers were steadily of whom had travelled and worked in Japan,
declining in countries such as Thailand, drew upon their experiences of Japanese firing
India and Indonesia where destruction and and glazing methods in making ceramics with Anne DAngAR AT mOLy sAbATA:
TRADiTiOn AnD innOvATiOn
deforestation of their natural habitat, civil unrest, a particularly strong material presence. 13 JuLy-28 OcTObeR 2001
and a ban on teak logging had put many of the The works included in this exhibition An initial trip to France in 1926 with
illustrate this fusion of techniques and
elephants and their trainers (mahouts) out of the Sydney painter, Grace Crowley led to
environmental and cultural influences. (In
work and in a perilous situation. Dangar taking up residence with the artists’
the water gallery),
Also presented in the exhibition is another of community, Moly Sabata, led by Albert
komar&Melamid’s animal projects, Moscow Gleizes at Sablon, situated on the Rhône. She
Through the Eyes of Mikki, a series of mODeRn AusTRALiAn WOmen: immersed herself in the subsistence lifestyle
pAinTings AnD pRinTs 1925-1945 characteristic of traditional peasant existence,
Polaroid photographs of Moscow’s red
13 JuLy - 26 AugusT 2001 learning to produce glazed terracotta ware in
Square taken by a seven-year old russian
The exhibition focuses on the outstanding the Gallo-Roman manner. In drawing upon
chimpanzee Mikki.
work by Australia’s great women artists of the these ancient vernacular ceramic traditions,
modernist period. Modern Dangar produced an innovative
Australian Women combines model of domestic ware that
some well-known names in married these forms with her own
Australian art history such experiments in Cubist inspired
as Margaret Preston, Grace decoration during the 1930s-40s.
Cossington Smith with others The majority of works in this
who deserve better recognition exhibition are loans from the
- Sybil Craig, Kathleen collection of the Foundation Albert
O’Connor, Lina Bryans. Other Gleizes, France, complemented
artists in the exhibition such by NGA works.
as Stella Bowen and Clarice
WORLD of ART 77