Toby Richardson Portrait of the artist – Art Blart

Exhibition dates: 20th August – 5th September 2009

Little Treasures Toby Richardson, Will Nolan, CJ Taylor and Steve Wilson

Clay Cameras Alan Constable

Alan Constable (Australian, b. 1956)
Not titled (ALE SLR)
2008
Ceramic
Photo: Marcus Bunyan

A small crowd was in attendance for the opening of two new exhibitions at Helen Gory Galerie (due to two auctions, one at Sotheby’s and the other at Deutscher-Menzies). Despite this the crowd was appreciative of the beautifully printed and well presented work. In the main exhibition Little Treasures four photographers show various bodies of work. Toby Richardson’s stained pillows (Portrait of the artist) from the years 1986-2003 were effective in their muted tones and ‘thickened’ spatio-temporal identity. CJ Taylor’s winged detritus from the taxidermist were haunting in their mutilated beauty. Steve Wilson’s sometimes legless flies were startling in their precision, attitude/altitude and, as someone noted, they looked like jet fighters! Finally my favourite of this quartet were the recyco-pop iridescent bottle tops of Will Nolan – “these objects remain enigmatic, resonating with a sense of mystery, hidden thoughts and unknown histories.” (Lauren Tomczak, catalogue text).

Some good work then in this take on found, then lost and found again treasure trove, work that retrieves and sustains traces of life, history and memory in the arcana of discarded and dissected objects.

The hit of the night for me was the work of Alan Constable, his “objects that see”. I found his clay cameras intoxicating – I wanted to own one (always a good sign). I loved the exaggerated form and colours, the playfulness of the creativity on display. Being a photographer I went around trying to work out the different makes of these scratched and highly glazed cameras without looking at the exhibition handout. For a very reasonable price you could own one of these seductive (is that the right word, I think it is) viewfinders and they were selling like hot cakes!

Dr Marcus Bunyan

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Many thankx to Helen Gory Galerie for allowing me to publish the photographs in the posting. Please click on the photographs for a larger version of the image.

Little Treasures

“Wings, pillows, flies and bottle tops are blown up vastly in stunning large scale prints that take the viewer through the looking glass into another universe, their brilliant colour and rich detail revealing unexpected beauty and delight in these forgotten things. Unmanipulated and finely printed, these images are the product of each artist’s technical mastery and inquisitive eye finding beauty in the cast off and delight in the ignored.” (Jemima Kemp, 2009)

Installation view of Little Treasures showing Toby Richardson’s Portrait of the Artist series (2009, left)
Photo: Marcus Bunyan

Installation view of Little Treasures showing the work of CJ Taylor (2009, left) and Will Nolan’s Bottle Top series (2009, right)
Photos: Marcus Bunyan

Installation view of Little Treasures showing the work of CJ Taylor (2009)
Photo: Marcus Bunyan

CJ Taylor (Australian, b. 1951)
Blue, turquoise yellow green
2009
Acrylic glass pigment print
110 x 79cm

CJ Taylor (Australian, b. 1951)
Blue, Blue, Grey
2009
Acrylic glass pigment print
110 x 79cm

Installation view of Little Treasures showing Will Nolan’s Bottle Top series (2009)
Photo: Marcus Bunyan

Will Nolan (Australian)
Bottle top #10
2009

Will Nolan (Australian)
Bottle top #1
2009

Installation view of Little Treasures showing Steve Wilson’s Fly series (2009)
Photo: Marcus Bunyan

Clay Cameras

“From the box brownie to disposables, VHS to SLR, these works explore Alan Constable’s fascination with cameras. Unlike the streamlined design of the originals, Constable’s cameras appear soft, organic and malleable.”