RIP Margaret Olley

Margaret Olley portrait by Ben Quilty. Winner 2011 Archibald Prize.

"I’m like an old tree dying and setting forth flowers as fast as I can, while it still can..."

quote from here

image from here

The ultimate bohemian, Margaret Olley died today aged 88.

Carriageworks

Some shots I took at Carriageworks, preparing for Expanded Architecture 2011. I love the Carriageworks space, so cavernous, so evocative, so many industrial details...

We're calling for proposals now for EA 2011 - the deadline is August 19th. It's a one night only exhibition - of site specific projection installation works happening on Wednesday 26th October. The walls/details/columns of the Carriageworks space itself are the canvas. If you know any artists, architects, designers, film makers, students etc who may be interested - send them this way. Details about entering can be found here. Our facebook page is here.

If I were a REAL artist...

If I were a real artist...well, I always thought I'd be a painter. I love the idea of the mess, the paint, the brushes, the turps...

My friend is currently on residency at the Queen St Studios so I got a chance to have a look around at the amazing studio spaces. They'll only be in existence for a short while longer until they make way for more of the Central Park development on Broadway.

 You can check out an open day and exhibition on on Sunday July 31st. There are some amazing artists in residence at the moment, so go have a sticky beak. I'll most probably be hanging out with my newborn son who will hopefully have made his appearance by then! If not, I'll be there...the massive looking one...

It looks like...?

 I came across these incredible textures today...they reminded me of old leather books, stretched and warped with age.

 Or they could even be some sort of super-close up photo of skin...

We were actually at the World Press Photo exhibition at the State Library, and these were window panes in the gallery space. They were covered with some sort of textured paper covering the, what I assume to be, textured rippled glass beneath. It was a beautiful play of light and framing, amongst many other beautifully lit and framed photographs.

Expanded Architecture 2011

My next project...which I'm really excited about!

My old friend and artistic collaborator, Sarah Breen Lovett started "Expanded Architecture" in 2010. Looking at the intersection of Avant Garde Film, Expanded Cinema and Architecture it started out as a super-sell-out film festival at Performance Space last year. There were over 40 artists, architects and designers involved and I was lucky enough to have one of my films exhibited.

This year, I'm lucky enough to be helping Sarah out as a co-curator and collaborator, as Expanded Architecture makes the leap from traditional screen based viewing, to becoming a night of site specific projection installations at the amazing Carriageworks on Wednesday 26th October.

We're currently doing a call out for proposals from interested artists, architects, designers and students. So if you know anyone's who would be interested in being a part of this project, send them onto the website or our facebook page for more info. Proposals need to be in by 5pm Friday August 19th.