Rona Green: Chancing Your Arm exhibition at Australian Galleries
Posted: 23 July 2015 Filed under: Exhibitions | Tags: art, Australian Galleries, drawings, exhibition, Melbourne, painting, printmaking, Rona Green, works on paper 8 Comments
The opening night of the Chancing Your Arm exhibition at Australian Galleries Melbourne
Chancing Your Arm
7 – 26 July 2015
Australian Galleries Melbourne
35 Derby Street, Collingwood, Victoria, Australia
Open 7 days 10am – 6pm
Australian Galleries reception area displaying works by Rona Green
Another view of the Australian Galleries reception area with works by Rona Green
Pencil and ink drawings on paper by Rona Green at the entrance of Australian Galleries
‘Tela’, ‘Curl’ and ‘Bo’ hanging out at Australian Galleries
‘Zulu’ surrounded by his harem of rabbit and cat flash monotypes at the entrance to the main gallery
‘Marty (rhymes with party)’, ‘Dirck De Cock’, ‘Booger Sugar’, ‘Tomas’, ‘King of Punchbowl’ and ‘Brett’ by Rona Green
‘Submission Magician’, ‘Shitehawk vs. Dirck ‘Foo-Foo’ De Cock’, ‘Mr Correct (Hank)’, ‘Maestro’ and ‘SMF’ by Rona Green
View of the exhibition ‘Chancing Your Arm’ by Rona Green at Australian Galleries Melbourne 2015
‘Brett’ and ‘Jacquy’ by Rona Green
‘SMF’, 2015, acrylic on canvas, 152 x 168 cm, and Rona watching his back…
A view of the exhibition ‘Chancing Your Arm’ and Rona in situ at Australian Galleries Melbourne 2015
Photography by Tim Gresham
Lord Alan Sugar
“…you’ve come here to chance your arm, but I’m afraid to say, it’s the end of the road really.” – Lord Alan Sugar
An interview with Alexi Keywan
Posted: 23 June 2013 Filed under: Artists | Tags: Alexi Keywan, art, Australian Galleries, drawings, inspiration, prints Leave a comment
Alexi Keywan, Until Tonight, etching
Alexi Keywan is a Sydney born artist who currently resides in Lismore, Australia.
Her work depicts familiar environments that she deftly instils with an intriguing eeriness.
Recently Alexi took the time to provide me with an insight into her practice and other interests.
Alexi Keywan, The Passenger No. 11, pen on paper
Rona: Your art practice includes printmaking, painting and drawing. What do you like about working with a variety of different materials and techniques?
Alexi: The ability to make marks and create images from each medium that are unique to themselves – they all have different ‘atmospheres’. Each medium affords me a different kind of headspace.
Alexi Keywan, Sometime, Someplace, etching
R: Who has influenced and inspired your art?
A: Initially my father, sculptor Orest Keywan.
Off the top of my head… Euan Mcleod, John Beard, Karla Dickens, Aida Tomescu, William Kentridge, John Virtue, Vija Celmins, Kiki Smith, Bernd and Hilla Becher, Ed Ruscha, Edward Hopper, Robert Motherwell, Franz Kline, James McNeil Whistler and Francisco de Goya.
Also lecturers and staff from National Art School, Sydney, particularly from the Print department (where I became a part of the furniture after seven consecutive years).
R: When you are making art do you prefer to work in silence or be listening to something?
A: Ever since I can remember, making any kind of art has enabled me to retreat from the world and create my own. I can’t imagine not having a ‘soundtrack’ to this. I think in art school I garnered a reputation as being busy and unapproachable due to the music driven print frenzies I’d get in to. At the moment it’s Frank Sinatra on the way to the studio and then something like Dirty Three or Godspeed You! Black Emperor.
Alexi Keywan, The Passenger No. 12, pen on paper
R: What are a few of your favourite things?
A: Solo road trips, travelling, boxing, tattooing and being tattooed, taking photos of concrete and steel.
R: Do you have a favourite gallery or museum?
A: I pretty much grew up in The Australian Museum (Orest worked there), and gallery wise it really depends on what is on.
R: What about your favourite art making material?
A: Etching copper because of the variables involved, but then on another day it could be drawing… or painting.
R: And your favourite food to eat after a big day in the studio?
A: Chocolate.
R: Snap!
Finally, congratulations Alexi on recently winning the 13th CPM National Print Award with your etching, You Are Here.
Alexi Keywan, You Are Here, etching
Alexi will be exhibiting prints and drawings at Australian Galleries, 35 Derby Street, Collingwood, VIC, 3066, from 27 August to 15 September 2013.
You can also view Alexi in conversation with Michel Lawrence from The Stock Rooms on YouTube:
In conversation with Paul Compton
Posted: 2 July 2012 Filed under: Artists | Tags: art, artist, artists books, Domestic Disturbance, drawings, Hand Held Gallery, inspiration, Paul Compton, prints, works on paper, zines 6 Comments
Black Horse of Sutton by Paul Compton
Paul Compton is a visual artist who lives and works in Melbourne, Australia.
Through his art Paul creates a magically haunting world for us in which to dwell.
This week I had a chat with Paul and this is what we nattered about…
The Phantom Limb by Paul Compton
Rona: Please describe your art for us.
Paul: I make drawings, prints, books and zines. I’m intrigued by the curious and dark aspects of the Victorian and Edwardian eras. I am continually interested in the occult, literature, folk lore and outsiders. I tend to suggest narratives in my work that blend sad and grim elements of life with humour.
R: Which of your art making tools is the favourite?
P: My old-fashioned dip pen.
The Parlour by Paul Compton
R: When you are making art what do you like to listen to?
P: I love listening to music / musicians that are either obscure or largely forgotten. It feels special to know that I might be the only person in the world playing their song at that exact moment. I adore folk, 80’s & 90’s New Wave and Goth Bands, theatre musicals, bluegrass, classical (Scriabin is my favourite), 1970’s Glam Rock and any obscure German Chamber music I can get my hands on.
R: Who has influenced or inspired you art wise?
P: Odilon Redon, Gustave Dore, Edward Gorey, Peter Blake, James Ensor, Paula Rego, Vilhelm Hammershøi and more recently Grayson Perry. The most inspiring artists are the ones I see exhibiting regularly in Melbourne. I see their work progressing and they inspire me to keep going and attempt to get better at what I do each time. They have truly unique and personal styles which I find very encouraging. These artists include Deborah Klein, Shane Jones, Petr Herel, Steve Cox, Rona Green, Sheridan Jones and Jazmina Cininas to name just a few.
To Possess You With by Paul Compton
R: Where do you like to go to see some art?
P: I love the NGV International, Hand Held Gallery, Australian Galleries, Sophie Gannon Gallery, c3 contemporary art space, Craft Victoria and Bundoora Homestead.
R: What are your favourite horror film and ghost story?
P: My favourite horror films aren’t gory ones, more subtle and quietly disturbing. The Omen and Rosemary’s Baby are my favourite bedtime flicks. My favourite ghost story involves the Black Shuck which is a fierce, ghostly black dog that famously appeared to a church congregation in Blythburg, England in 1577. It killed two people, caused the church steeple to collapse through the roof and as it fled into the mist it left scorch marks on the northern door which can be seen at the church to this day!
Bat / Saint by Paul Compton
R: Why did you become an artist, and what do you enjoy most about the artistic life?
P: It is the only thing that gives me a true sense of an identity. When you put on an item of clothing it is designed by someone else and someone else in the world might be wearing it too but with making art it is purely the amalgamation of all the things that interest, inspire and scare me most. I enjoy the feeling of accomplishment when I finish an exhibition because then I can move on to my next one!
If you would like to view Paul’s art in the flesh go see his exhibition Domestic Disturbance at Hand Held Gallery, Suite 18 Paramount Arcade, 108 Bourke Street, Melbourne, running from 28 June til 21 July 2012.
You can check out more of Paul’s wonderful work by clicking on these links to his redbubble profile and blog.
Rona Green 