contemporary Australian photography

Posts Tagged ‘contemporary Australian photography

May

Photographs: Marcus Bunyan. ‘A light of its own’ 2023

May 2023

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Marcus Bunyan (Australian, b. 1958)
Antonios Schneider
From the series A light of its own
2023
Digital photograph

And did you get what you wanted from this life, even so?
I did.
And what did you want?
Too call myself beloved, to feel myself beloved on the earth.

.
Raymond Carver. ‘Late Fragment’ from A New Path to the Waterfall, Atlantic Monthly Press, 1989

This posting offers a selection of photographs from my new 269 image sequence A light of its own (2023). To see the whole extended conversation please visit my website.

The starting point for this series was a black and white image from the Second World War of a German soldier looking at writing that has been scrawled in heavy chalk on the side of an armoured vehicle. ‘Aus der Traum’ translates as ‘From the Dream’.

As the series developed the work, as is its want, took on a life, light of its own. I use the photographs of war and its effects as part hallucinogenic, technicolour dream and part exploration “… not to follow optically the ‘line of ideas’ in the text or in a picture and see only the representation proper, the surface, but to probe with the eyes the pictorial texture and even to enter the texture.”1

Dr Marcus Bunyan

269 images
© Marcus Bunyan
.

VIEW THE WHOLE SEQUENCE ON MY WEBSITE (preferably on a desktop computer)

Martin Jay. Downcast Eyes: The Denigration of Vision in Twentieth-Century French Thought. Berkley: University of California Press, 1993, p. 512.

.
Please click on the photographs for a larger version of the image.

Photographs are available from this series for purchase. As a guide, a digital colour 16″ x 20″ print costs $1,000 plus tracked and insured shipping. For more information please see the Store web page.

Marcus Bunyan (Australian, b. 1958)
Tobacco
From the series A light of its own
2023
Digital photograph

Marcus Bunyan (Australian, b. 1958). 'City (destruction)' 2023

Marcus Bunyan (Australian, b. 1958)
City (destruction)
From the series A light of its own
2023
Digital photograph

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Marcus Bunyan (Australian, b. 1958)
Destroyer
From the series A light of its own
2023
Digital photograph

Marcus Bunyan (Australian, b. 1958)
Emanation
From the series A light of its own
2023
Digital photograph

Marcus Bunyan (Australian, b. 1958). 'Flick' 2023

Marcus Bunyan (Australian, b. 1958)
Flick
From the series A light of its own
2023
Digital photograph

Marcus Bunyan (Australian, b. 1958). 'Goggles' 2023

Marcus Bunyan (Australian, b. 1958)
Goggles
From the series A light of its own
2023
Digital photograph

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Marcus Bunyan (Australian, b. 1958)
Gun
From the series A light of its own
2023
Digital photograph

Marcus Bunyan (Australian, b. 1958)
Helmet
From the series A light of its own
2023
Digital photograph

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Marcus Bunyan (Australian, b. 1958)
Katyusha
From the series A light of its own
2023
Digital photograph

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Marcus Bunyan (Australian, b. 1958)
Men
From the series A light of its own
2023
Digital photograph

Marcus Bunyan (Australian, b. 1958). 'Prisoner' 2023

Marcus Bunyan (Australian, b. 1958)
Prisoner
From the series A light of its own
2023
Digital photograph

Marcus Bunyan (Australian, b. 1958). 'Aus der Traum' 2023

Marcus Bunyan (Australian, b. 1958)
Aus der Traum
From the series A light of its own
2023
Digital photograph

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Marcus Bunyan (Australian, b. 1958)
Trees
From the series A light of its own
2023
Digital photograph

Marcus Bunyan (Australian, b. 1958)
Water
From the series A light of its own
2023
Digital photograph

Marcus Bunyan website

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Nov

Exhibitions: ‘Beyond Eden: Polixeni Papapetrou / Dutch masters of light: Hendrik Kerstens & Erwin Olaf / Glamour stakes: Martin Parr at Monash Gallery of Art, Melbourne

By Dr Marcus Bunyan Leave a Comment

Categories: Australian artist, Australian photography, beauty, colour photography, digital photography, documentary photography, English artist, exhibition, existence, gallery website, light, Melbourne, memory, Monash Gallery of Art, painting, photographic series, photography, portrait, psychological, reality, space, time and works on paper
Tags: Ascot racing, Australian art, Australian conceptual photography, Australian photographer, Australian photography, Bathing cap, Beyond Eden, Beyond Eden: Polixeni Papapetrou, British art, British photographer, British photography, Conceptual Art, conceptual photography, contemporary Australian photography, contemporary British art, contemporary British photography, contemporary Dutch art, contemporary Dutch photography, Dutch masters of light, Dutch masters of light: Hendrik Kerstens and Erwin Olaf, Dutch photographers, Dutch photography, Erwin Olaf, Erwin Olaf Keyhole 3, Erwin Olaf Keyhole series, Glamour stakes, Glamour stakes: Martin Parr, Hendrik Kerstens, Hendrik Kerstens and Erwin Olaf, Hendrik Kerstens Bag, Hendrik Kerstens Bathing cap, Hendrik Kerstens Cosy, Hendrik Kerstens Re rabbit IV, Irwin Olaf Keyhole 12, Keyhole 12, Keyhole 3, Keyhole 7, Keyhole series, Lost Psyche, Luxury series, Martin Parr, Martin Parr Australia Melbourne, Martin Parr England Ascot, Martin Parr Luxury, Martin Parr South Africa Durban, Melbourne horse racing, Monash Gallery of Art, Polixeni Papapetrou, Polixeni Papapetrou Blinded, Polixeni Papapetrou Eden, Polixeni Papapetrou Flora, Polixeni Papapetrou It's all about me, Polixeni Papapetrou Lost Psyche, Re rabbit IV, rembrandt, South Africa Durban, staged performances, t's all about me, Vermeer

Exhibition dates: 22nd October 2016 – 4th December 2016

Installation view of Beyond Eden: Polixeni Papapetrou at Monash Gallery of Art, Melbourne, featuring three images from the series It’s all about me (2016)
© Marcus Bunyan, the artist and the Monash Gallery of Art

There was hardly standing room at the opening of Beyond Eden: Polixeni Papapetrou at Monash Gallery of Art, Melbourne. As for car parking, I had to park the car on the grass out the back of the gallery it was so full. Inside, it was great to see Poli and the appreciative crowd really enjoyed her work.

It was the usual fair from the exhibition Glamour stakes: Martin Parr, a whirl of movement, colour, intensity – in the frenetic construction of the picture plane; in the feverish nature of encounter between camera and subject – and obnoxious detail in photographs from the series Luxury (2003-2009). Low depth of field, flash photography, fabulous hats, and vibrant colours feature in images that ‘document leisure and consumption and highlight the unintentional, awkward and often ugly sides of beauty, fashion and wealth’. Sadly, after a time it all becomes a bit too predictable and repetitive.

The pick of the bunch in the exhibition Dutch masters of light: Hendrik Kerstens & Erwin Olaf was the work of Hendrik Kerstens. Simple, elegant portrait compositions that feature, and subvert, the aesthetics of 17th-century Dutch master paintings. I love the humour and disruption in the a/historical account, “the différance [which] simultaneously contains within its neo-graphism the activities of differing and deferring, a distancing acted out temporally as well as spatially.” (Geoffrey Batchen)

Dr Marcus Bunyan

.
Many thankx to Monash Gallery of Art for allowing me to publish the photographs in the posting. Please click on the photographs for a larger version of the image.

Polixeni Papapetrou (Australian, 1960-2018)
It’s all about me (installation view)
2016
From the series It’s all about me
Pigment ink-jet print
Collection of the artist
© Marcus Bunyan, the artist and the Monash Gallery of Art

Polixeni Papapetrou (Australian, 1960-2018)
Ask me again when I’m drunk (installation view)
2016
From the series It’s all about me
Pigment ink-jet print
Collection of the artist
© Marcus Bunyan, the artist and the Monash Gallery of Art

It’s all about me comprises five photographs of the artist’s daughter wearing doll-like masks and sporting a series of T-shirts bearing sassy slogans. As in much of Papapetrou’s work, the aesthetic of role-playing is used to suggest an awkward relationship between social appearances and an authentic self. These works specifically explore the complex world that contemporary teenage live in and the way identities are created and manipulated through fashion, social media and the internet. In this respect, the gauche quality of the photographs reflects the awkward self-importance of teenagers reaching for adulthood.

Installation views of Beyond Eden: Polixeni Papapetrou at Monash Gallery of Art, Melbourne, featuring photographs from the series Eden (2016)
© Marcus Bunyan, the artist and the Monash Gallery of Art

Polixeni Papapetrou (seated) surrounded by friends, family and well wishers at the opening of her exhibition Beyond Eden: Polixeni Papapetrou at Monash Gallery of Art, Melbourne
© Marcus Bunyan, the artist and the Monash Gallery of Art

Polixeni Papapetrou (Australian, 1960-2018)
Flora
2016
From the series Eden
Pigment print
127.3 x 85cm
Courtesy of the artist and STILLS Gallery, Sydney

In Roman mythology, Flora (Latin: Flōra) was a Sabine-derived goddess of flowers and of the season of spring – a symbol for nature and flowers (especially the may-flower). While she was otherwise a relatively minor figure in Roman mythology, being one among several fertility goddesses, her association with the spring gave her particular importance at the coming of springtime, as did her role as goddess of youth. Her name is derived from the Latin word “flos” which means “flower”. In modern English, “Flora” also means the plants of a particular region or period.

Polixeni Papapetrou (Australian, 1960-2018)
Blinded
2016
From the series Eden
Pigment print
127.3 x 85cm
Courtesy of the artist and STILLS Gallery, Sydney

Polixeni Papapetrou (Australian, 1960-2018)
Eden
2016
From the series Eden
Pigment print
127.3 x 85cm
Courtesy of the artist and STILLS Gallery, Sydney

Beyond Eden: Polixeni Papapetrou

Polixeni Papapetrou is a Melbourne-based photographic artist. She first began taking photographs in the 1980s, creating documentary-style portraits of drag queens, body builders and Elvis fans. Soon after the birth of her first child, Papapetrou’s artistic practice began to focus on projects that employed her children, Olympia and Solomon, as models. She is now known nationally and internationally for her staged images that show her children dressed in costumes and masks while performing in front of real and imaginary backgrounds.

This exhibition brings together three recent bodies of work by Papapetrou: Lost psyche (2014), It’s all about me (2016) and Eden (2016). Each of these studio-based series explores themes that have been central to Papapetrou’s practice for the past 30 years. In particular, they highlight her long-term interest in social identity being elaborated through the processes of role-playing and performance.

It is important to note that Papapetrou composes her photographs using a range of historical and contemporary references, thereby embedding these staged performances in a network of competing forces. As a result, there is often a purposefully awkward style to the images, which suggests that identity is continually being inherited, negotiated and perpetuated through the history of representation.

As with much of Papapetrou’s work, the series included in this exhibition either partly or wholly feature the artist’s children, who are now in their late teenage years. By photographing her children and at the same time concealing their identities, Papapetrou is able to create portraits that are grounded in her personal experience of parenting but reflect on more universal themes of childhood innocence and the transience of life.

Text from the Monash Gallery of Art website

Installation view of Dutch masters of light: Hendrik Kerstens and Erwin Olaf at Monash Gallery of Art, Melbourne, featuring photographs Irwin Olaf’s Keyhole series
© Marcus Bunyan, the artist and the Monash Gallery of Art

Installation view of Dutch masters of light: Hendrik Kerstens and Erwin Olaf at Monash Gallery of Art, Melbourne featuring at left, Irwin Olaf’s Keyhole 7 (2012) and Keyhole 12 (2012) at right
© Marcus Bunyan, the artist and the Monash Gallery of Art

Erwin Olaf (Dutch, b. 1959)
Keyhole 3
2011
From the series Keyhole
Chromogenic print
62.5 x 50.0cm
Courtesy of the artist

Installation view of Dutch masters of light: Hendrik Kerstens and Erwin Olaf at Monash Gallery of Art, Melbourne featuring the work of Hendrik Kerstens
© Marcus Bunyan, the artist and the Monash Gallery of Art

Hendrik Kerstens (Dutch, b. 1956)
Bathing cap
1992
Ink-jet print 62.5 x 50.0cm
Courtesy of the artist

Installation view of Dutch masters of light: Hendrik Kerstens and Erwin Olaf at Monash Gallery of Art, Melbourne featuring the work of Hendrik Kerstens with at left, Re rabbit IV (2009) and in centre, Doilly (2011)
© Marcus Bunyan, the artist and the Monash Gallery of Art

Installation view of Dutch masters of light: Hendrik Kerstens and Erwin Olaf at Monash Gallery of Art, Melbourne featuring the work of Hendrik Kerstens with at left, Bag (2007) and Paper roll (2008) at right
© Marcus Bunyan, the artist and the Monash Gallery of Art

Installation view of Dutch masters of light: Hendrik Kerstens and Erwin Olaf at Monash Gallery of Art, Melbourne featuring the work of Hendrik Kerstens with at left, Naturel (1999) and Wet (2002) at right
© Marcus Bunyan, the artist and the Monash Gallery of Art

Hendrik Kerstens (Dutch, b. 1956)
Re rabbit IV (installation view)
2009
Ink-jet print
62.5 x 50.0cm
Collection of the artist
© Marcus Bunyan, the artist and the Monash Gallery of Art

Hendrik Kerstens (Dutch, b. 1956)
Bag
2007
Ink-jet print
62.5 x 50.0cm
Collection of the artist

Hendrik Kerstens (Dutch, b. 1956)
Cosy
2012
Ink-jet print
62.5 x 50.0cm
Collection of the artist

Dutch masters of light: Hendrik Kerstens and Erwin Olaf

This exhibition features work by the internationally acclaimed Dutch photographers, Hendrik Kerstens and Erwin Olaf. These photographers both create images that reflect an interest in paintings by Dutch Masters such as Rembrandt (1606-1669) and Vermeer (1632-1675). This is particularly evident in their manipulation of light and shade and also in their poetic use of everyday subject matter. Drawing on aesthetics of the past while also incorporating aspects of the present, these photographers create emotionally charged portraits that draw attention to the liminal nature of contemporary life.

Hendrik Kerstens took up photography in 1995 and has since been creating portraits of his daughter, Paula. His photographs began as documents and reflections on the fleeting nature of childhood. He later introduced the aesthetics of 17th-century Dutch master paintings to his portraits, creating a dialogue between painting and photography and between the past and the present.

Erwin Olaf is a multidisciplinary artist who is best known for his highly polished staged photographs that draw on his experiences of everyday life. His refined style and meticulous technique relate his background as a commercial photographer; and his use of light is inspired by painting. The subjects of his Keyhole series turn their gaze away from the camera in a way that evokes feelings of shame and humility.

Dutch masters of light: Hendrik Kerstens and Erwin Olaf is part of a series of events that mark the 400th anniversary of the first Dutch contact with Western Australia. On 25 October 1616, Dirk Hartog made landfall with his ship the Eendracht at Dirk Hartog Island, in the Shark Bay area.

Text from the Monash Gallery of Art website

Martin Parr (British, b. 1952)
Australia, Melbourne (installation view)
2006
From the series Luxury
Pigment ink-jet print
50.8 x 76.2cm
© Marcus Bunyan, the artist and the Monash Gallery of Art

Martin Parr (British, b. 1952)
Australia, Melbourne
2008
From the series Luxury
Pigment ink-jet print
50.8 x 76.2cm
Courtesy of the artist and Niagara Galleries (Melbourne)

Installation view of Glamour stakes: Martin Parr at Monash Gallery of Art, Melbourne with work from the series Luxury
© Marcus Bunyan, the artist and the Monash Gallery of Art

Installation views of Glamour stakes: Martin Parr at Monash Gallery of Art, Melbourne with work from the series Luxury: Australia, Melbourne 2008
© Marcus Bunyan, the artist and the Monash Gallery of Art

Glamour stakes: Martin Parr

Martin Parr was born in Surrey in the United Kingdom in 1952. He studied photography at Manchester Polytechnic from 1970-73 and held his first exhibition the following year. He has since developed an international reputation as a photographer, filmmaker and curator and has been a full member of Magnum Photos since 1994.

Parr is known for his satirical social documentary photography. Focusing on particular aspects of contemporary consumer culture, he produces images that are a combination of the mundane and the bizarre. He uses the language of commercial photography, creating an aesthetic that is bright, colourful and seductive. However, his images often inspire viewers to cringe or laugh.

Glamour stakes: Martin Parr shows a selection of works from Parr’s Luxury series. This series is comprised of images taken predominantly between 2003 and 2009 in multiple destinations around the world. While creating Luxury, Parr photographed what he describes as ‘situations where people are comfortable showing off their wealth’, such as art fairs, car shows and horse races. The series is indicative of Parr’s practice in that the images document leisure and consumption and highlight the unintentional, awkward and often ugly sides of beauty, fashion and wealth.

The images in this series are not only documents but also critical and humorous reflections on contemporary society. By turning his camera to the world of luxury, Parr invites viewers to consider the sustainability of a culture that constantly demands the latest styles in fashion and the newest luxury items. This exhibition focuses specifically on Parr’s images of horse-racing events, particularly those taken in Melbourne in 2008.

Text from the Monash Gallery of Art website

Martin Parr (British, b. 1952)
Australia, Melbourne
2008
From the series Luxury
Pigment ink-jet print
50.8 x 76.2cm
Courtesy of the artist and Niagara Galleries (Melbourne)

Installation views of Glamour stakes: Martin Parr at Monash Gallery of Art, Melbourne with work from the series Luxury: at right, South Africa, Durban 2003
© Marcus Bunyan, the artist and the Monash Gallery of Art

Martin Parr (British, b. 1952)
South Africa, Durban
2005
From the series Luxury
Pigment ink-jet print
101.6 x 152.4cm
Courtesy of the artist and Niagara Galleries (Melbourne)

Martin Parr (British, b. 1952)
England, Ascot
2003
From the series Luxury
Pigment ink-jet print
101.6 x 152.4cm
Courtesy of the artist and Niagara Galleries (Melbourne)

Monash Gallery of Art
860 Ferntree Gully Road, Wheelers Hill
Victoria 3150 Australia
Phone: + 61 3 8544 0500

Opening hours:
Tue – Fri: 10am – 5pm
Sat – Sun: 10pm – 4pm
Mon/public holidays: closed

Monash Gallery of Art website

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Jun

Exhibition: ‘Bill Henson: Landscapes’ at Castlemaine Art Gallery and Historical Museum, Victoria

By Dr Marcus Bunyan Leave a Comment

Categories: Australian artist, Australian photography, beauty, colour photography, digital photography, exhibition, existence, gallery website, installation art, intimacy, landscape, light, memory, photographic series, photography, psychological, reality, space, time and works on paper
Tags: 20th-century Australian photography, Australian artist, Australian contemporary landscape photography, Australian landscape, Australian landscape photographs, Australian landscape photography, Australian landscapes, Australian night photography, Australian photographer, Australian photography, Bill Henson, Bill Henson Untitled #21 2005/2006, Bill Henson Untitled #23 1998, Bill Henson Untitled #28 1998, Bill Henson Untitled #48 1998, Bill Henson Untitled #9, Bill Henson Untitled #9 2005/2006, Bill Henson Untitled 1999-2000, Bill Henson: Landscapes, Castlemaine Art Gallery, Castlemaine Art Gallery and Historical Museum, contemporary Australian photography, Contemporary Photography, landscape photography

Exhibition dates: 30th April – 30th June 2016

Installation photograph of the exhibition Bill Henson: Landscapes at the Castlemaine Art Gallery and Historical Museum
Photo: © Marcus Bunyan and the Castlemaine Art Gallery and Historical Museum

Drawing on light

A magnificent installation from one of the world’s great photographers.

Why this artist is not having sell out retrospectives at MoMA New York, Centre Georges Pompidou Paris or the Tate in London is beyond me. Is it because of continuing cultural cringe, or the fact that he’s not as well known in Europe and America?

Their loss is our gain.

The darkened room contains only eight images beautifully lit to create a wondrous, enveloping atmosphere. Henson’s night photographs emit light as though a result of the excitation of atoms by energy – the energy of the mind transferred to the light of place. A luminescence of thought is imaged in the photograph through the emission of light … produced not so much by physiological or electromagnetic processes as much as by a culturally informed mind that seems to bring forth its own light. And behold there is light.

As that eminent photographer Minor White used to opine when asked for technical information on his photographs in the back of popular American photography monthlies: for technical information the camera was creatively used.

For me, these are not images of ethereal malevolence or Australian anxiety about our environment and the ominous ordinary. They do not possess that feeling at all. These pictures are about an understanding and contemplation of light and place, a process which is in balance one with the other. Yes, the transient nature of earthly existence but more than that. The soft details of flowers in the grass, or the spatter of rain on water, not noticed until you really look at the image; or the shadow of a truck on a bridge underpass. In my mind I know where this is, in Gipps Street, Abbottsford near the train bridge… or so I believe in my imagination. All of these photographs have a feeling of a subtle vibration of energy in the universe. There is no malevolence here.

My only criticism of this, the first photographic exhibition at Castlemaine Art Gallery, is that there is not enough of it. There needed to be more of the work. It just felt a little light on. Another gallery was needed to make the installation experience fully enveloping. Having said that, congratulations must go to the artist and to gallery who are putting on some amazing exhibitions in the heart of regional Victoria.

Dr Marcus Bunyan

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Many thankx to Castlemaine Art Gallery and Historical Museum for allowing me to publish the photographs in the posting. Please click on the photographs for a larger version of the image. All images © Marcus Bunyan and the Castlemaine Art Gallery and Historical Museum

Opening titles for the exhibition Bill Henson: Landscapes at the Castlemaine Art Gallery and Historical Museum
Photo: © Marcus Bunyan and the Castlemaine Art Gallery and Historical Museum

Bill Henson (Australian, b. 1955)
Untitled #9 2005/2006
2005-2006
CL SH541 N2
Type C photograph
127 x 180cm (sheet)
Courtesy of the artist and Roslyn Oxley9 Gallery, Sydney

Bill Henson (Australian, b. 1955)
Untitled #9 2005/2006 (detail)
2005-2006
CL SH541 N2
Type C photograph
127 x 180cm (sheet)
Courtesy of the artist and Roslyn Oxley9 Gallery, Sydney

Installation photograph of the exhibition Bill Henson: Landscapes at the Castlemaine Art Gallery and Historical Museum with Untitled #21 2005/2006 at left and Untitled #9 2005/2006 at right
Photo: © Marcus Bunyan and the Castlemaine Art Gallery and Historical Museum

Bill Henson (Australian, b. 1955)
Untitled #21 2005-2006 (detail)
2005-2006
CL SH541 N2
Type C photograph
127 x 180cm

Bill Henson (Australian, b. 1955)
Untitled 1999-2000
1999-2000
Type C photograph
103.8 x 154.0cm (image) 126.8 x 179.9cm (sheet)
National Gallery of Victoria, Melbourne
Purchased with funds from the Victorian Foundation for Living Australian Artists, 2005 (2005.501)
Courtesy of the artist and Roslyn Oxley9 Gallery, Sydney

“Our current exhibition, Bill Henson: Landscapes captures the haunting convergence of opposites; two worlds, darkness and light.

These dreamlike pictures pursue the Romantic project by engulfing the viewer in the urban or semi-rural sublime. Through these landscapes, we are immersed in a realm which offers an otherworldly view of the transient nature of earthly existence. The inky depths of the encroaching natural environment suggest a dark abyss, an ethereal malevolence that relates to both the artistic conventions of Renaissance landscape painting and, a uniquely Australian anxiety about our environment and the ominous ordinary.”

Text from the Castlemaine Art Gallery Facebook page

Installation photographs of the exhibition Bill Henson: Landscapes at the Castlemaine Art Gallery and Historical Museum with Untitled #23, 1998/1999/2000 at right bottom
Photos: © Marcus Bunyan and the Castlemaine Art Gallery and Historical Museum

Bill Henson (Australian, b. 1955)
Untitled 2001-2002
2001-2002
Type C photograph
127 x 180cm (sheet)
Collection of Annabel and Rupert Myer

Bill Henson (Australian, b. 1955)
Untitled 2001-2002 (detail)
2001-2002
Type C photograph
127 x 180cm (sheet)
Collection of Annabel and Rupert Myer

Installation photograph of the exhibition Bill Henson: Landscapes at the Castlemaine Art Gallery and Historical Museum with Untitled #28 1998 at right
Photo: © Marcus Bunyan and the Castlemaine Art Gallery and Historical Museum

Bill Henson (Australian, b. 1955)
Untitled #28 (detail)
1998
Type C photograph
104 × 154cm

Bill Henson (Australian, b. 1955)
Untitled #48 (detail)
1998/1999/2000
Type C photograph
127 × 180cm

Castlemaine Art Gallery and Historical Museum
14 Lyttleton Street (PO Box 248)
Castlemaine, Vic 3450 Australia
Phone: (03) 5472 2292
Email: info@castlemainegallery.com

Opening hours:
Thursday 12pm – 4pm
Friday 12pm – 6.30pm
Weekends 12pm – 4pm

Castlemaine Art Gallery and Historical Museum website

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Jul

Marcus Bunyan black and white archive: ‘At Newport’ series 1991

By Dr Marcus Bunyan Leave a Comment

Categories: Australian artist, Australian photography, beauty, black and white photography, digital archive, documentary photography, existence, light, Marcus Bunyan, Marcus Bunyan black and white archive, Melbourne, photographic series, photography, psychological, reality, sculpture, space and time
Tags: At Newport, At Newport series, Australian art, Australian artist, Australian black and white photography, Australian medium format photography, Australian photographer, Australian photography, Big Cogs, contemporary Australian photography, Fords are a Joke GMH are shit, Frank's Apron, Hand is fucked Farm is flooded Caravan drifted away, Harrys got a..., Heavy springs, Hoe with Surging Rainwater, Large Anvil, Marcus Bunyan At Newport, Marcus Bunyan At Newport series, Marcus Bunyan Big Cogs, Marcus Bunyan Coronation, Marcus Bunyan Fords are a Joke GMH are shit, Marcus Bunyan Forms, Marcus Bunyan Frank's Apron, Marcus Bunyan Hand is fucked Farm is flooded Caravan drifted away, Marcus Bunyan Harrys got a..., Marcus Bunyan Heavy springs, Marcus Bunyan Hoe with Surging Rainwater, Marcus Bunyan I Robot, Marcus Bunyan Large Anvil, Marcus Bunyan Screened figure, Marcus Bunyan Spring Turrets Keep and Ladder, Newport railway workshops, Newport Victoria, Screened figure, silver gelatin photograph, Spring Turrets Keep and Ladder, Victorian Railway Newport Workshops

July 2011

I am scanning my negatives made during the years 1991-1997 to preserve them in the form of an online archive as a process of active memory, so that the images are not lost forever. These photographs were images of my life and imagination at the time of their making, the ideas I was thinking about and the people and things that surrounded me.

All images © Marcus Bunyan. Please click the photographs for a larger version of the image; remember these are just straight scans of the negatives !

Photographs are available from this series for purchase. As a guide, a vintage 8″ x 10″ silver gelatin print costs $700 plus tracked and insured shipping. For more information please see my store web page.

1991

At Newport series

This series of photographs was taken in Melbourne at the old Victorian Railway’s Newport Workshops and formed the second part of my first solo exhibition, Of Magic, Music and Myth held in 1991 at a hairdressing salon in High Street, Prahran, Melbourne. Some of the titles e.g. Fords are a Joke, GMH are shit (1991, below) are taken from the graffiti scrawled on various surfaces. All are silver gelatin photographs on fibre-based paper.

Marcus Bunyan (Australian, b. 1958)
Fords are a Joke, GMH are shit
1991
From the At Newport series
Gelatin silver print

Marcus Bunyan (Australian, b. 1958)
Harrys got a…
1991
From the At Newport series
Gelatin silver print

Marcus Bunyan (Australian, b. 1958)
Screened figure
1991
From the At Newport series
Gelatin silver print

Marcus Bunyan (Australian, b. 1958)
Heavy springs
1991
From the At Newport series
Gelatin silver print

Marcus Bunyan (Australian, b. 1958)
Untitled (Torro)
1991
From the At Newport series
Gelatin silver print

Marcus Bunyan (Australian, b. 1958)
I, Robot
1991
From the At Newport series
Gelatin silver print

Marcus Bunyan (Australian, b. 1958)
Large Anvil
1991
From the At Newport series
Gelatin silver print

Marcus Bunyan (Australian, b. 1958)
Spring, Turrets, Keep and Ladder
1991
From the At Newport series
Gelatin silver print

Marcus Bunyan (Australian, b. 1958)
Big Cogs
1991
From the At Newport series
Gelatin silver print

Marcus Bunyan (Australian, b. 1958)
Coronation
1991
From the At Newport series
Gelatin silver print

Marcus Bunyan (Australian, b. 1958)
Frank’s Apron
1991
From the At Newport series
Gelatin silver print

Marcus Bunyan (Australian, b. 1958)
Hand is fucked, Farm is flooded, Caravan drifted away I
1991
From the At Newport series
Gelatin silver print

Marcus Bunyan (Australian, b. 1958)
Hand is fucked, Farm is flooded, Caravan drifted away II
1991
From the At Newport series
Gelatin silver print

Marcus Bunyan (Australian, b. 1958)
Untitled
1991
From the At Newport series
Gelatin silver print

Marcus Bunyan (Australian, b. 1958)
Hoe with Surging Rainwater
1991
From the At Newport series
Gelatin silver print

Marcus Bunyan (Australian, b. 1958)
Forms I
1991
From the At Newport series
Gelatin silver print

Marcus Bunyan (Australian, b. 1958)
Forms II
1991
From the At Newport series
Gelatin silver print

Marcus Bunyan (Australian, b. 1958)
Forms III
1991
From the At Newport series
Gelatin silver print

Marcus Bunyan (Australian, b. 1958)
Forms IV
1991
From the At Newport series
Gelatin silver print

Marcus Bunyan black and white archive page

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Jun

Exhibition: ‘HIJACKED 2: Australia/Germany’ at the Anne & Gordon Samstag Museum of Art, Adelaide

By Dr Marcus Bunyan Leave a Comment

Categories: Australian artist, black and white photography, digital photography, exhibition, gallery website, landscape, memory, photographic series, photography, portrait, psychological, reality, sculpture, space, surrealism and time
Tags: Adelaide, Anne & Gordon Samstag Museum of Art, Australia, Australian and German photography, Australian photographers, Australian photography, contemporary Australian photography, contemporary German photography, Fallen Kann Ich Auch Alleine, German art, German artist, German contemporary photography, german photographer, German photographers, Hijacked 2, HIJACKED 2: Australia/Germany, Ingvar Kenne, Ingvar Kenne Nick Cave, Ivon Thein, Ivon Thein Thirty-Two Kilos, Ivon Thein Untitled 07, Jörg Brüggemann, Jörg Brüggemann Nam Song River, Nam Song River Vang Vieng Laos, Narelle Autio, Narelle Autio Untitled 8, Nick Cave, Not of This Earth, Olaf Unverzart, Olaf Unverzart Fallen Kann Ich Auch Alleine, Olaf Unverzart Untitled 1999, Oliver Sieber, Oliver Sieber Reita, Oliver Sieber Reita Köln, Reita Köln, Thirty-Two Kilos

Exhibition dates: 13th May – 1st July 2011

Many thankx to the Anne & Gordon Samstag Museum of Art for allowing me to publish the photographs in the posting. Please click on the photographs for a larger version of the image.

Olaf Unverzart (German, b. 1972)
Untitled (from the series Fallen Kann Ich Auch Alleine)
1999
Pigment print
56 x 38cm/125 x 85cm
Courtesy of Oechsner Galerie

Narelle Autio (Australian, b. 1969)
Untitled 8 (from the series Not of This Earth)
2001
Courtesy of the artist

Jörg Brüggemann (German, b. 1979)
Nam Song River, Vang Vieng, Laos, December 2007
2007
C-type print
69 x 57cm
Courtesy of the artist and Ostkreuz

Ingvar Kenne (Australian, born Sweden 1965)
Nick Cave
2001
C-type print
100 x 100cm
Courtesy of the artist

Hijacked 2: Australia/Germany builds on the very considerable success of the inaugural exhibition, Hijacked 1 – Australia and America, and its internationally celebrated and hugely successful book. This new exhibition effectively considers two socially disparate nations, Germany and Australia, through an expansive photographic anthology of fascinating works, juxtaposed to suggest connections.

Hijacked 2 has been curated by Mark McPherson and Ute Noll and showcases the diverse talents and perspectives of thirty contemporary German and Australian photographers. With a focus on the depiction of the young, the boundary-riding, and the fringe-dwelling, Hijacked 2 is evocative, confronting, dreamlike and rousing.

Featured artists from Australia are: Narelle Autio, James Brickwood, Michael Corridore, Andrew Cowen, Tamara Dean, Suzie Fox, Lee Grant, Derek Henderson, Rebecca Ann Hobbs, Ingvar Kenne, Bronek Kózka, Georgia Metaxas, Polixeni Papapetrou and Louis Porter.

From Germany the artists are: Johanna Ahlert, Natalie Bothur, Jörg Brüggemann, Thekla Ehling, Albrecht Fuchs, Jan von Holleben, Karsten Kronas, Anne Lass, Jens Liebchen, Myriam Lutz, Julian Röder, Josef Schulz, Oliver Sieber, Ivonne Thein, Olaf Unverzart and Sascha Weidner.

Hijacked 2: Australia/Germany is toured by the Australian Centre for Photography. A substantial 412-page publication accompanies the exhibition with texts by Uta Daur, Bec Dean, Alasdair Foster, Bill Kouwenhoven, Katja Melzer, Daniel Palmer and Katrina Schwarz.

Text from the Anne & Gordon Samstag Museum of Art website

Oliver Sieber (German, b. 1966)
Reita, Köln, 2007
2007
Pigment print
34 x 27cm
Courtesy Galerie Priska Pasquer, Germany

Ivon Thein (German, b. 1979)
Untitled 07 (from the series Thirty-Two Kilos)
2006
C-type print
55 x 80cm
Courtesy of Galerie Voss

Anne & Gordon Samstag Museum of Art
Hawke Building, City West campus
University of South Australia
55 North Terrace, Adelaide
Phone: (08) 8302 0870

Opening hours:
Tuesday – Saturday 10am – 5pm

Anne & Gordon Samstag Museum of Art website

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Dr Marcus Bunyan

Dr Marcus Bunyan is an Australian artist and writer. His art work explores the boundaries of identity and place. He writes Art Blart, an art and cultural memory archive, which posts mainly photography exhibitions from around the world. He holds a Doctor of Philosophy from RMIT University, Melbourne, a Master of Arts (Fine Art Photography) from RMIT University, and a Master of Art Curatorship from the University of Melbourne.