Tuesday, July 26, 2011

Automatic Art

Went to the Surrealist Exhibition the other day. I was generally impressed, more to be reminded of what they were on about than particularly this exhibition. My major disappointment was the lack of variety of artists represented, and those that were there were not necessarily the best pieces in my opinion, e.g. Joseph Cornell's museum object. And there was not much representation of the female artists from the period - Georgia O'Keefe, Leonor Fini, Frida (although she didn't like to be called a Surrealist) and women like that. There is one piece - probably my favourite in the exhibition - by Dorothea Tanning; a fab installation, so that is something.

Anyway, have been playing around with the idea of Automatic Art, which is effectively glorified doodling, and these are some of the results:



Death of a Legend

So, Margaret Olley, a legend of Australian painting has passed at the age of 88. I am not a massive fan of her work, but I am a big admirer of the woman herself: paving the way in a male dominated world for women to follow and she was always passionately true to her first love, art. She didn't ever rely on a man to get by in the world and she died in her house surrounded by her art life. May there be many more of her ilk to follow. RIP Margaret.

Friday, July 1, 2011

New Work

I mentioned before that I have been working on a piece that was inspired by a quote by Sue Monk Kidd: 'The truth will set you free...but first it will shatter the safe sweet way you live'. The truth that is being referred to, of course, is that God is not male (I can hear the sharp intake of breath from here), Christianity is not meant to be patriachal and boys are not 'better' in God's eyes than girls.

Since I have discovered the Goddess, I can attest to the truth of Monk Kidd's assertion. Very freeing, but a painful road to take: completely anti-establishment and therefore not likely to win too many friends in circles I have previously operated in (can still hear it!). So out on a limb a bit. It was very therapeutic to build all of that into an art work, pictured below. I have used a photo from a previous piece as a background and gone from there.





The other piece is not so in your face, but along the same lines. It is a rework of a previous painting. I have printed on silk and added embroidery, crochet, beads and a fabulous frame. I have decided to call it Ariadne's Lace in deference (again) to the wonderful woman from Greek mythology and also refers to the Great Mother, the one who spins the web of creation.