September 2010

CONGRATULATIONS

Sherrie Knipe has been awarded the People's Choice award for the  2010 Noosa Regional Gallery Travelling Scholarship. The national contemporary 3D art prize is presented by the Sunshine Coast Council and principal partner: Friends Noosa Regional Gallery. An exhibition of the forty finalists works will be held at the Noosa Regional Gallery from 29 July - 29 August 2010.

Darren Sylvester is a finalist in the prestigious 2010 William and Winifred Bowness Photography Prize. The $25,000 non-acquisitive award is held at the Monash Gallery of Art and showcases the work of Australia's best photographers. This year's entries will be judged by Gael Newton, Senior Curator of Photographs, National Gallery of Victoria, Max Pam, Australian photographer, and Shaune Lakin, Director of MGA. An exhibition of finalists works will be shown from 23 September to 24 October.

Juan Ford is currently completing a residency at Mildura's Art Vault in Victoria where he is researching for an Australia Council for the Arts New Work Grant.

Laith McGregor's work The Journey, recently exhibited in his solo exhibition Moontown at the Melbourne Art fair, has been acquired by the University of Queensland Art Museum.

McGregor's work has also joined the Museum of Old and New Art collection in Tasmania who acquired Eye Come in Piece from the Melbourne Art fair.

GO SEE...

Sebastian Di Mauro will be exhibiting in Your Move: Australian artists play Chess an exhibition of new work by thirteen Australian contemporary artists in response to the game of chess. Bendigo Regional Art Gallery 14 August to 17 October 2010.

Kate Shaw is exhibiting new video work at Flux Factory in New York, a not-for-profit arts organization supporting innovative and collaborative art, works from 26 August to 7 September 2010.

Shaw is also showing in group exhibition I Stole It, I Borrowed It, I Broke It at Stephan Stoyanov Gallery in New York. The exhibition features the work of five artists from Residency Unlimited, a non-profit arts service supporting artists and curators in residency and related programs. 12 to 30 September 2010.

NEXT AT SSFA

SAM LEACH
PRESENT AT HAND
7 - 24 October 2010

The rise of Sam Leach as one of Australia’s foremost contemporary Australian artists would seem, to many, to have been meteoric. His recent win of the Archibald and Wynne prizes at the Art Gallery of NSW has given him a massive national profile, yet to artworld insiders who have watched him since he graduated in 2003 his success is no surprise. That only William Dobell and Brett Whiteley have simultaneously won the Archibald and Wynne prizes further cements Sam Leach’s place in Australian art history.

October will see Leach’s first solo since the Archibald and controversial Wynne prize wins in Sydney. In this exhibition, titled ‘Present at Hand’, Leach’s exquisitely painted works examine our relationship to objects and what an object means to us. His subjects are irreversibly sealed in resin so we may never fully gain access to them, yet they contain and convey meaning to each of us.

August 2010

CONGRATULATIONS

Juan Ford, Darren Sylvester and Darren Wardle have all been awarded Australia Council For the Arts Established Artist - New Work Grants of $20,000. Alasdair Macintyre’s works Eternity and  First Love from his recent solo exhibition at SSFA, Bloom, have joined the La Trobe University collection.

Eric Bridgeman and Juan Ford are finalists in the prestigious Basil Sellers Art Prize. Bridgeman's work features on the cover of the catalogue for the prize. An acquisitive prize of $100,000 was awarded to Perth-based artists Tarryn Gill and Pilar Mata Dupont for their video artwork, Gymnasium. An exhibition of finalists works will be exhibited at the Ian Potter Museum of Art, the University of Melbourne, 6 August - 7 November.

VR Morrison is a finalist in the prestigious Doug Moran National Portrait Prize. Established in 1988, the annual prize is a significant event on Australia’s arts calendar as well as the richest portrait prize in the world with $150,000 awarded to the winning artist. The winner will be announced on the 10th August 2010 and an exhibition of finalists works will be held at The State Library of New South Wales from 9 August - 5 September 2010.

Sherrie Knipe is a finalist in the 2010 Noosa Regional Gallery Travelling Scholarship. The national contemporary 3D art prize presented by the Sunshine Coast Council and principal partner: Friends Noosa Regional Gallery Inc enables the winning artist to undertake study or training interstate or overseas. An exhibition of the forty finalists works will be held at the Noosa Regional Gallery from 29 July - 29 August 2010.

Simon Obarzanek, Kate Shaw and Michael Lindeman are all finalists in the 2010 Royal Bank of Scotland Emerging Artist Award (RBS EAA). Held at the Renzo Piano designed RBS Tower on Philip St, Sydney, the acquisitive prize is designed to support, encourage and provide exposure to both unrepresented and represented artists. The winner will receive a $10,000, economy around-the-world airline ticket and a brief international artistic development program.

Invited artists works will be shown over two exhibitions, with an exhibition of finalists works to follow.
Exhibition 1: Monday 9 August - Friday 20 August
Exhibition 2: Monday 23 August - Friday 3 September
Final Exhibition:Monday 6 September - Friday 24 September

GO SEE...

Laith McGregor’s work is included in a group exhibition at the National Gallery of Victoria. His works I'm not here (2008) and Puppy dancing with cougar (2009) is exhibited with recent acquisitions from the Victorian Foundation for Living Australian Artists. Ian Potter Centre: NGV Australia, 24 July 2010 - 17 October 2010.

Darren Sylvester is performing tonight as a part of the 2010 Melbourne Art Fair.

The Melbourne International Art Fair has invited Hell Gallery to host a music event at Ding Dong on Friday 6th August, to celebrate the opening of this year's Art Fair. Darren will be performing alongside Beaches, Zond and space metallers, Into The Void, who will be reuniting with Melbourne based frontman, Ronnie van Hout.

Friday 6th August, 2010
FAIRSHAKE @ Dingdong Lounge
Tickets $15 at door

NEXT AT SSFA

PENNY BYRNE
9 - 26 SEPTEMBER 2010

A practicing conservator, Byrne restores the glass and ceramics of Australia’s top museums. As an artist she uses these accomplished skills to manipulate and reconfigure vintage ceramic figurines. The results are politically charged and exquisitely beautiful objects as Byrne subverts the innocence of the original piece, tackling political, social and environmental issues, whilst imbuing them with a hearty dose of humour and wit.

Melbourne-based Penny Byrne graduated with a Bachelor of Art (Fine Art Ceramics)from RMIT in 1987. She also gained a Graduate Diploma (Ceramics and Glass Conservation and Restoration) at West Dean College, UK in 1990 before completing a law degree from La Trobe University in 1997. Collections include Art Gallery of Western Australia, Newcastle Region Art Gallery, Art Gallery of Ballarat, Mildura Art Gallery, Warnambool Art Gallery, Artbank and private collections in Australia and overseas including the housemuseum, collection of Corbett and Yueji Lyon, Melbourne.

July

Introducing…

Sullivan + Strumpf Fine Art welcome a new addition to the gallery, photographer and video installation artist Eric Bridgman.

Australian born, with Papua New Guinean family heritage, Eric Bridgman, graduated from the Queensland College of Art, Griffith University in 2008, where he majored in Photographic Art Practice. He has exhibited in several group shows since graduating, including The State We’re In: Contemporary Queensland Photography (UQ Art Museum) and The New Fresh Cut 2008 at the Institute of Modern Art in Brisbane. His solo exhibitions to date include Triple X Bitter (The Cube, Canberra, 2010) and Big League Balls (Blindside Gallery, Melbourne) as part of Next Wave Festival 2010. He is also a 2010 finalist in the prestigious Basil Sellers Ian Potter Art Prize (The Ian Potter Museum of Art, Melbourne).

With the assistance of the Australia Council for the Arts, Emerging Artist New Work Grant in 2009, Eric was able to realise his most recent project, New Photographs From Kokwara Trail , 2010. In late 2009, Bridgeman spent three months living in remote parts of the Chimbu (Simbu) Province, his mother country in the Highlands of PNG, revisiting family ground and searching for a deeper understanding of the nation’s contemporary post-colonial state and the histories that have contributed to it. His striking portrait style photographs inspired from these travels, involve reconstructed photographic scenarios which aims to discuss and subvert the historical and contemporary permanence of picture taking in the daily lives of Papua New Guineans.

A selection of Photographs From Kokwara Trail will be exhibited in a group show at Sullivan +Strumpf Fine Art later this year, which will also include works from three other new Sullivan + Strumpf artists, Michael Lindeman, Dorota Mytych, and Simon Obarzanek.

Congratulations

Sydney Ball’s 1971 gouache on paper work, “Untitled #21”, has been acquired by the AGNSW.

Eric Bridgman and Juan Ford are finalists in the prestigious Basil Sellers Art Prize, a prize which defines sport in the broadest possible sense. In 2010, an acquisitive prize of $100,000 will be awarded to a single, outstanding artwork, displayed in an exhibition of shortlisted finalists at the Ian Potter Museum of Art, the University of Melbourne, 6 August – 7 November.

Laith McGregor’s work “The European” has been acquired by the MCA. (Image shown left is of a slide of Laith’s work that was projected each night onto Brisbane’s iconic William Jolly Bridge throughout June 2010).

Sam Leach’s Wynne Prize winning painting, “Proposal for a landscaped cosmos”, was acquired by the Newcastle Region Art Gallery.

Go See…

Dorota Mytych’s work is included in a group exhibition with the theme of visual perception and deception, called “illusion/illusion”. The show is being held at The Elisabeth Murdoch Gallery, part of the McClelland Gallery + Sculpture Park in Victoria from 11 July –19 September. Her work in the show includes video art of drawings composed of tea leaves which morph into alternate versions of themselves via time lapse sequences, as well as her more traditional charcoal portraits and landscapes.

The prize winning works of Alexander Seton (2009) and Sebastian Di Mauro (2001) will be on display as part of the tenth anniversary celebrations for the Woollahra Small Sculpture Prize. These two works, along with all previous winning works are currently touring as a collection. View the next installment of the tour at Manly Regional Art Gallery from 30 July – 29 August.

Overseas

Darren Sylvester’s first major solo exhibition “Take Me To You” opens in Singapore on Tuesday July 20 at the Nanyang Academy of Fine Arts (NAFA). Part of this exhibition includes new photographs and embroideries. Visit the show at Galleries 1 & 2, NAFA Campus 1, 80 Bencoolen Street, Singapore from 21 July – 22 August.

Next at SSFA

Melbourne Art Fair 2010 is coming up early next month and Sullivan & Strumpf will be featuring new work by Marc de Jong and Laith McGregor.

De Jong’s MAF exhibition offering, “PNTNGS 4”, will include works that focus on oft over-looked scenes from suburbia – dot-style paintings and phosphorescent flock prints of wrecked cars, fast food joints, and low-set suburban housing.

In his MAF exhibition, “Moon Town”, Laith Macgregor’s presents several paintings as well as his familiar biro and pencil drawings. Themes explored within these works include hero worship, personal family story, gender stereotypes, wisdom and authority. His work infuses surrealism in to the ordinary, articulating detailed lines into mesmerizing contemporary narratives.

MAF2010 will be held at Melbourne’s Royal Exhibition Building from 4-8 August. Visit the website http://www.melbourneartfoundation.com/fair/ for further details.

June 2010

Congratulations

Darren Wardle will commence a three month studio residency at Point B Worklodge in Williamsburg New York on June 14th. Founded in 1996, Point B is an international studio program that includes artists, curators, writers and architects.

Juan Ford has completed a commission for the Westin Hotel in Sydney.

Congratulations to: Penny Byrne, Marc de Jong, Sam Leach, Alasdair Macintyre, Laith McGregor, Alexander Seton and Darren Sylvester who showed with SSFA at Art HK10. Works by all artists were well received and will be entering collections all around the world. Over 46,000 people attended the fair, up from around 20,000 last year.

Go See...

Darren Wardle’s work is included in group exhibition ‘Vision’, curated by Diane Soumilas at Glen Eira City Council Gallery. 9 June – 4 July. Laith McGregor is exhibiting in a group show ‘5 by 5’ at Comodaa Contemporary Modern Australian Art. 26 May – 5 June 2010.

Juan Ford’s work is currently showing in several group exhibitions including; ‘Present Tense’ at the National Portrait Gallery from 22 May - 22 August 2010 and 'Understory' curated by Troy Ruffels, showing at Devonport Regional Gallery, 22 May - 20 June 2010.

Ford is also showing at the National Gallery of Victoria. His installation ‘Light Play’ is the second creative installation for children in NGV Kids Corner and will be on display from June – 7 November 2010.

Kate Shaw will be featured in LUMEN at Atlantic Salt in New York, a video art and projection festival featuring site-specific video installations, 3D-video technology, sound-based performances, and art interventions by artists.

Laith McGregor is having his art projected onto the William Jolly Bridge in Brisbane. In 2010, as part of the Inhabit program, Laith McGregor has been invited to develop images to be added to the ongoing projection library. Laith's projection is to commence this Friday 4 June and 1 (of 4) new slides will be projected each week for the next 4 weeks. The projection will be a permanent installation with Council working with the Museum of Brisbane.

Next at SSFA

Alasdair Macintyre
Bloom
8 - 25 July

Often as an artist… I turn to art and the canon of art history for consolation. It is all there, and has all gone before in art history, to both the artists and their subjects…                               Alasdair Macintyre, excerpt from Artist Statement , March 2010

In his latest solo exhibition, Bloom, Alasdair Macintyre examines the nature of aesthetics, combined with his current thoughts on sociological and moral issues that face the human animal in the twenty-first century, particularly in relation to Australian society. Continuing in the spirit of last year’s highly successful Playtime exhibition, Macintyre once again calls upon his own self-representational alter-ego character, the fictional artist, Aecap, to manifest his feelings in Bloom, often including Aecap’s trusty canine friend, a white terrier called Impasto.
 
Darren Wardle
Wet - Look Capital Style
8 - 25 July

…Wardle presents viewers with a doubly fake urban-suburban fiction.  Cinematic and surreal, the paintings, appearing so familiar at first, yield nightmares on the verge of happening.      Barbara A. MacAdam, ART news, January 2010

Darren Wardle’s exquisitely executed paintings of abandoned architectural structures explore the extended possibilities of the painting process with his seamless nearly cinematic landscapes. Using Modernist architecture to explore spatial illusion as well as to elaborate a vision of contemporary consciousness, he brings obsessive detail to his depictions of surfaces, furniture, and other decorative elements in a given space. The resulting interiors seem schizophrenic in their attributes, and, along with the shifting perspectives he often employs within a single picture plane, give a portrait of the loneliness and confusion of contemporary existence as well as the failure of Modernism as a cohesive aesthetic movement.  Human presence is implied by its absence amongst his abandoned spaces and interiors. The artifice of these hyper-real spaces is heightened by Wardle’s trademark use of extremely synthetic colour, a delirious counterpoint to the austerity of much Modernist architecture, like the return of the repressed within its ‘chromophobic’ aesthetic. Wet-look Capital Style is Wardle’s second solo exhibition with Sullivan Strumpf Fine Art. 

May 2010

Congratulations

Sam Leach has been announced as the winner of the 2010 Archibald and Wynne prizes at the AGNSW. Winning both prizes in the same year is a feat which has only ever been achieved by two other artists in the history of the prize. These include William Dobell in 1943 and Brett Whitley in 1978.

Michael Lindeman was awarded the 2010 Sulman prize. Finalist’s works will be exhibited from Saturday 27 March – 30 May 2010.

Joanna Lamb’s screen print series ‘Low Rise 1 - 4’ has been acquired by the Art Gallery of Western Australia.

Arlene TextaQueen has been awarded a residency and exhibition through Monash University at Gippsland Centre for Art and Design and Switchback Gallery. The exhibition will be held from 8 October – 11 November 2010

Overseas

Sullivan + Strumpf Fine Art are exhibiting at the 2010 Hong Kong Art Fair from the 27 – 30 May 2010. Exhibiting artists include Penny Byrne, Marc de Jong, Sam Leach, Laith McGregor, Alasdair Macintyre and Alexander Seton.

Go See…

Sebastian Di Mauro has been selected to create a new work for a group exhibition titled Your Move: Australian artists play Chess at Bendigo Art Gallery. The exhibition will tour with a show coming from Britain called The Art of Chess from RS&A Gallery, London.

Exhibition dates:

Bendigo Art Gallery 30 October 2010-30 January 2011
University of Qld Art Museum 25 February-24 April 2011
McClelland Gallery Langwarrin Victoria 29 May-7 August 2011
Samstag Art Museum Adelaide 14 October-16 December 2011

Switch on…

A documentary showcasing Penny Byrne’s work will air on ABCTV Artscape on Tuesday 27 April 2010 at 10pm.

A documentary on Darren Wardle’s work is being shown for a second time on the ABC’s Artshow on Wednesday 5 May 2010.The episode is currently available to download at iView http://www.abc.net.au/tv/iview/

Next at SSFA

Alexander Seton Infinitely Near
8 – 27 June 2010

Infinitely Near is about what it is to romanticize the world around you and your life within it. The need, desire and compulsion to deal and describe with idealized lenses. These marble carvings of jumping castles, and assorted inflatable toys are carved in marble, caught in various states of inflation or realization; attempting to illustrate the friction between fantasy and reality.

April

CONGRATULATIONS

We are thrilled to report that several SSFA artists have been announced as finalists in the upcoming Archibald, Wynne and Sulman Awards at the Art Gallery of New South Wales.

The Archibald is one of Australia’s oldest and most celebrated art awards. It aims to foster portraiture, support artists and perpetuate the memory of great Australians.

Archibald finalists
Marc de Jong
Sam Leach

The Wynne Prize is awarded to the best landscape painting of Australian scenery in oils or watercolours or for the best example of figure sculpture, by an Australian Artist.

Wynne finalists
Juan Ford
Sam Leach
Kate Shaw

The Sir John Sulman Prize is awarded for the best subject painting or genre painting or mural project by an Australian artist.

Sulman finalist
Michael Lindeman

Winners are announced on Friday 26 March 2010.
Finalist’s works will be exhibited from Saturday 27 March – 30 May 2010.
We are also pleased to announce that Sherrie Knipe has been selected for the Salon des Refuses at SH Ervin Gallery.


The exhibition will run from 27 March – 30 May 2010.

CONGRATULATIONS

Kate Shaw has been awarded a public art commission with Urban Art Projects for the Brisbane City Council.

SWITCH ON

A documentary showcasing Penny Byrne’s work will air on ABCTV Artscape on Tuesday 27 April 2010 at 10pm.

NEXT AT SSFA
Arlene TextaQueen
Social Engagement
29 April – 16 May 2010

“Yes, I wear a superhero costume. I thought I needed to be someone…why not a superhero?” Arlene TextaQueen 2008
Arlene TextaQueen is Australia’s felt-tip super-heroine of the art world. After re-discovering her childhood devotion to the felt tip marker, a medium that most Australians know as the humble ‘Texta’, Arlene has dedicated herself to drawing female “Textanudes” for over a decade. Social Engagement, her next solo exhibition at SSFA, continues this artistic journey, introducing a new group of subjects. Each Textanude is an intimate and collaborative exchange between herself beautiful, feisty women Arlene chooses to draw.

March 2010

Sydney Ball in Conversation with Anne Loxley

Sullivan + Strumpf present Sydney Ball in conversation with Anne Loxley, Director of Penrith Regional Gallery and the Lewers Bequest and curator of Sydney Ball The Colour Paintings 1963 – 2007.

Sydney Ball, pioneer of abstract painting in Australia, will give an insightful account of his experiences in New York and his artistic explorations to date.

Featured in the first Art Month Sydney Festival, the event will be held on Saturday 6 March at 11am at Sullivan + Strumpf Fine Art.

Go See…

Penny Byrne will be giving an artist talk at the Newcastle Region Art Gallery on Friday 12 March at 6pm. Byrne will be discussing her work featured in their current exhibition Clash: Contemporary Sculptural Ceramics which is on until 18 April 2010.

Laith McGregor’s video works Maturing and Matured are currently exhibited at SQUARE2, City Gallery Wellington. SQUARE2 is a site dedicated for moving image artworks located at the entrance way to City Gallery Wellington. The moving image works displayed in SQUARE2 play continuously, allowing audiences to experience the artwork 24 hours a day. McGregor’s works will be shown until 7 March 2010.

Darren Wardle and Kate Shaw are both included in group show The Possibility of a Painting at the Chelsea Hotel, New York from 6 March 2010 – 22 May 2010.

Next at SSFA

Laith McGregor - Inland Sea Shanty
30 March – 18 April 2010

Laith McGregor has recently extended his creative reach into international regions with a residency at the Centre Intermondes, La Rochelle, France. Taking truly non-fiction materials and creating fictional narratives, McGregor will present his new cast of characters, the products of his residency, at SSFA in his upcoming exhibition Inland Sea Shanty.

“This story is from an outsider’s perspective. An observation of a French portside cities rich History. La Rochelle, has provided the backdrop for a fable, a seaman’s song, a sea shanty. Part autobiography, part documentation, fiction and non-fiction. Historical figures and fictitious characters morf and weave, reaffirming themselves and their presence like phantoms into the fabric of my journey like a classical poem, lives, places and paths intertwine into a new story, a comedy and a tragedy.” – Laith McGregor 2010

Darren Sylvester - Large Format Works
30 March – 18 April 2010

“Since 1998, Sylvester has consistently couched his often interconnected themes – including the fallibility of relationships, urban alienation, the passing of time, mortality – within (large)-scale narrative-driven photographic images of devastating clarity”

Darren Sylvester’s forthcoming exhibition at SSFA is the art world equivalent of his “greatest hits” album – rather fitting for an artist who has just released his first music CD…but there is a twist. The greatest hits – his iconic output dating from 2005 - including imagery familiar to anyone who has been interested in contemporary photography in the last few years – will be bigger and bolder than ever. The new large format works, measuring 120 x 160cm (an increase from the original 90 x 120cm size) have a new-found monumentality, as images of melancholic schoolboys (see Your First Love is Your Last Love 2005 above), lonely, jaded party-goers (Single Again 2005) and god-like surgeons (Who You Are or How I Meet You, I Don’t Know) are now larger than life-size and auspiciously lurk over us. Two of the new large format works have already been acquired by the Gallery of Modern Art, Queensland Art Gallery. Editions of 3 + 2AP.

February 2010

February 2010

Welcome

A line up of all of the gallery’s artists, Sullivan+Strumpf Fine Art’s annual opening exhibition SSFA2010 will include works by three new artists this year, Simon Obarzanek, Dorota Mytych and Michael Lindeman.

Simon Obarzanek was born in Israel in 1968 and emigrated to Australia in 1974. The now Melbourne-based artist studied photography at the RMIT before moving to New York in the late 1990s. Since his first solo exhibition in 2002, Obarzanek has had several solo exhibitions throughout Australia, including a survey show, Simon Obarzanek at Monash Gallery of Art, Melbourne. His work is held in major public collections, including the National Gallery of Victoria, Melbourne, National Portrait Gallery, Canberra and The Powerhouse Museum, Sydney. Obarzanek is interested in observing and capturing the poise and movement of our daily lives. Described by one curator as a “modern anthropologist”, his observations later transcend in the studio into fascinating, silent and eerie photographs - portraits of our daily contortions. Simon will be exhibiting at SSFA in October 2010

Polish born artist artist, Dorota Mytych, is a citizen of both Poland and Australia. In 1996 she received a Fine Arts degree with Honours, from the Accademia di Bella Arti, Florence, Italy. She has exhibited extensively in Poland and Australia, and in 2009 her work was seen in I Walk the Line, New Australian Drawing, Museum of Contemporary Art, Sydney. Mytych's drawings deliberately invert the idea of the portrait. Her charcoal drawings are simple and bold renderings of numerous, tiny individuals within huge group scenes in turn, make up the larger image. Mytych also uses tea leaves to recreate photographs sculpturally in order to video them. Leaf by leaf, the image slowly emerges, only to be blown away leaving complete emptiness. Dorota will be exhibiting at SSFA in July/August 2010.

Sydney born artist Michael Lindeman has a Masters of Fine Art, from the UNSW College of Fine Arts. In 2007 he was a recipient of the International Studio and Cultural Program Residency in New York. Since 1998, Lindeman has had numerous solo exhibitions in Sydney and has also been involved in group curated shows throughout Australia, Los Angeles and New York. In Lindeman’s current work, the commodification of art object comes into play. His meticulous re-creations of classified advertisements, with their expert lettering, deliver Lindeman’s witty and thoughtful message. Michael will be exhibiting at SSFA in July/August 2010.

Congratulations

Sam Leachs self portrait Self as Zip has been acquired by the University of Queensland. The portrait was included in the 2009 University of Queensland National Artists Self - Portrait Prize.

Kate Shaw has been awarded an Arts Victoria Grant 6 months residency at Flux Factory in New York.

December 2009

Congratulations

Alexander Seton has been announced as the winner of the 2009 Woollahra Small Sculpture Prize. Now in its ninth year, the $10,000 acquisitive was awarded to Seton for his stunning Bianca marble sculpture I…U.

Seton has also been awarded the Art Gallery of New South Wales Society Prize at this years Sculpture by the Sea exhibition at Bondi Beach, Sydney. The $5,000 prize as chosen by Edmund Capon, Director of AGNSW was awarded to Seton for his sculpture On Hold Lawnmower.

Two of Darren Sylvester’s photographs, The Explanation is Boring. It's Simple. I Don't Care and Your First Love is Your Last Love, have been acquired by Queensland Art gallery.

Sylvester’s photograph Our Future Was Ours has also joined the Baillieu Library, University of Melbourne collection.

Download

ABCTV Sunday Arts

Several SSFA artists have recently featured on ABCTV Sunday Arts. Episodes are available to download from the ABC website.

15 November 2009: The Shilo Project (download available soon)

Marc de Jong, Juan Ford, Joanna Lamb, Sam Leach and Arlene TextaQueen are all included in group exhibition The Shilo Project at the Ian Potter Museum of Art. Curated by Dr Chris McAuliffe The Shilo project is based on Neil Diamond’s 1970 album, the cover of which features a connect-the-dots portrait of the musician. Over 100 contemporary Australian artists have been invited to complete their own version of the ‘blank’ cover. 28 November 2009 to 28 April 2010

1 November 2009: Art of Horror (Download available now)

This episode presented Macquarie University Art Gallery’s exhibition Horror - Come Darkness. The exhibition explored the genre of horror as an emotional state and included works by Penny Byrne, Sam Leach, Alasdair Macintyre, VR Morrison and Darren Sylvester.

Joanna Lamb Screen Prints

Coinciding with her second solo exhibition at SSFA, High Rise, is the release of Joanna Lamb’s first series of editioned screen prints, Low Rise.
The four works in the series continue Lamb’s exploration of the subtle nuances of the urban landscape.

*There are 10 editions of Low Rise 1, 2, 3 and 4 and they are available in sets of 4..

Go See…

Darren Wardle and Kate Shaw are both exhibiting at the NADA fair in Miami Florida with Stephan Stoyanov Gallery. December 3-6, 2009

Joanna Lamb features in Group exhibition Built currently showing at the Art Gallery of Western Australia. Including works from the State Art Collection, the exhibition is concerned with built forms, both sculptural and pictorial, as well as with concepts of order and disorder, containment and collapse.
Over the summer: 2009/2010 exhibitions

Sydney Ball: The Colour Paintings 1963 – 2007.The Anne and Gordon Samstag Museum of Art, University of South Australia, SA. 9 November 2009 - February 2010.

Footnotes of a verdurous tale: Sebastian Di Mauro 1987-2009. Queensland University of Technology Art Museum. 31 October 2009 – 31 January 2010

The Shilo Project. Ian Potter Museum of Art. 28 November 2009 to 28 April 2010 (Including works by Marc de Jong, Juan Ford, Sam Leach and Arlene TextaQueen)

New09: Selected Recent Acquisitions. University of Queensland Art Museum. 20 November - 31 January 2010. (Featuring Alexander Seton)

Next at SSFA

SSFA 2010
4 – 21 February 2010

SFFA 2010, our opening exhibition, includes a new work from each of our represented artists. Stretching over the two floors of the gallery this exhibition previews the year ahead and is our showcase group show of 2010. A fully illustrated catalogue will be available early next year.
Featuring work from each SSFA artist:

SYDNEY BALL
PENNY BYRNE
MATT CALVERT
MARC DE JONG
SEBASTIAN DI MAURO
JUAN FORD
HELEN FULLER
SHERRIE KNIPE
JOANNA LAMB
SAM LEACH
MICHAEL LINDEMAN
ALASDAIR MACINTYRE
LAITH McGREGOR
VR MORRISON
DOROTA MYTYCH
SIMON OBARZANEK
ALEX SETON
KATE SHAW
DARREN SYLVESTER
DARREN WARDLE

SSFA will be closing on Wednesday 23 December and will reopen on Wednesday 13 January 2010.
For any enquiries between these times please contact Joanna Strumpf on 0412 615 818 or Ursula Sullivan on 0400 840 032.
We thank you for all of your support throughout this year and look forward to seeing you in 2010.

November 2009

Switch on

ABC TV: Sunday Arts - 1 November at 5pm

Horror - Come Darkness, an exhibition currently showing at Macquarie University Art Gallery will be featured on ABC TV's Sunday Arts program this coming Sunday 1 November at 5 pm.

The exhibition includes works by Penny Byrne, Sam Leach, Alasdair Macintyre, VR Morrison and Darren Sylvester. Exploring the genre of horror as an emotional state, Horror, Come Darkness features contemporary artists using cinematic effects, literary sources and technological visualisation, painting, stills, installation, and video and sound devices, for effecting the simulation of horror. 24 September – 13 November 2009.

Congratulations

Three of Penny Byrne’s works from her recent SSFA solo exhibition Interesting Times have been acquired by regional galleries: Newcastle Region Gallery, Shepparton Regional Gallery, and Art Gallery of Ballarat. Byrne was also invited to give a speech to Visual Arts students at La Trobe University in Bendigo on 21st October 2009.

Kate Shaw and Darren Wardle will be international artists' in residence at Flux Factory in Long Island City in New York for 2 months from 1 October 2009. This residency continues to develop the strong artistic ties both artists have with America, having exhibited there in various galleries in past years.

Juan Ford has been shortlisted for the prestigious Basil Sellers Art Prize. As one of Australia’s newest and richest art prizes the Basil Sellers Art Prize asks artists to create a work that explores the theme of sport. A distinguished judging panel announced 14 artists shortlisted for the $100,000 Prize last month. The exhibition opens at the Ian Potter Museum of Art, University of Melbourne, in August 2010. The prize is acquisitive.

Laith McGregor is a finalist in the RBS Emerging Artist Prize (formerly the ABN Amro Prize). The acquisitive prize offers a cash prize of $15,000 and an around the world airline ticket to the winner. An exhibition of finalists’ work runs from 6 - 30 October in the foyer of the RBS Tower, 88 Phillip Street, Sydney. McGregor’s biro drawing, Blue Beard (2008) will also be featured in a forthcoming online documentary called Re-enchantment, created by writer/director Sarah Gibson about the hidden world of fairy tales. Re-enchantment will explore six classic fairy tales and delve deep into their origins, histories, and underlying themes, as well as exhibiting artwork and film clips from artists who have been inspired by these stories. One of the fairy tales looked at is Blue Beard.

Go See…

Penny Byrne, Alexander Seton, Sherrie Knipe, and Therese Howard are all finalists in the 2009 Woollahra Small Sculpture Prize. Established in 2001, the acquisitive prize offers a $10,000 award for the winning sculpture. Finalist’s works are exhibited from 24 October - 1 November 2009 at the historic Redleaf Council Chambers in Double Bay, Sydney.

Darren Wardle "Design Anxiety" exhibition in New York has been a great success and if you happen to be in NY you can still view it until 9 November 2009 at Luxe/Stephan Stoyanov Gallery, 29 Orchard Street New York, NY 10002.

Sam Leach is a finalist in the Eutick Memorial Still Life Award at Coffs Harbour Regional Gallery. The acquisitive prize offers a major award of $15,000. Finalist’s works are exhibited from 30 October 2009 - 2 January 2010.

The first survey exhibition of Sebastian Di Mauro’s work titled Footnotes of a verdurous tale: Sebastian Di Mauro 1987-2009 opens on the 31 of October 2009 at the Queensland University of Technology Art Museum. Curated by Simone Jones, the exhibition will run from 31 October 2009 – 31 January 2010 and will coincide with the launch of a major monograph about Di Mauro’s work. Throughout the past 20 years sculptor Di Mauro has held over 35 solo exhibitions and his work has featured in over 90 group exhibitions in Australia and abroad. Di Mauro’s latest solo exhibition on new work, Scuta, continues at SSSFA until 15 November 2009.

Marc de Jong, Juan Ford, Sam Leach and Arlene TextaQueen have been invited to participate in group exhibition The Shilo Project at the Ian Potter Museum of Art. Curated by Dr Chris McAuliffe The Shilo project is based on Neil Diamond’s 1970 album, the cover of which features a connect-the-dots portrait of the musician. Over 100 contemporary Australian artists have been invited to complete their own version of the ‘blank’ cover. 28 November 2009 to 28 April 2010.

Sydney Ball, one of Australia’s most acclaimed masters of abstraction, continues the final leg of his major national survey exhibition, Sydney Ball: The Colour Paintings 1963 – 2007. Drawing from public and private collections, the exhibition examines the interests that have consumed this prolific and committed artist: abstraction and colour for decades. Curated by Anne Loxley, the third and final installment of this national touring exhibition opens 9 November 2009 and continues through to 14 February 2010 at The Anne and Gordon Samstag Museum of Art, University of South Australia, SA.

As part of the exhibition, Sydney Ball will be giving an artist talk on 14 November 2009 at the museum, and following this there will be a live performance by The Site Specific Music group (a pianist, saxophonist and cellist) who will do an improvisation inspired by Sydney Ball’s Stain paintings in the show.

Juan Ford is also exhibiting a group show titled The Skin Show at Shifted visual art space, Level 1, 15 Albert Street, in Richmond. Curated by Michael Brennan, the exhibition runs from 21 October – 7th November 2009.

Alexander Seton is exhibiting in an Albury Art Gallery touring show titled Step right up: the circus in Australian Art. This fascinating and lively group exhibition may be viewed at the Mornington Peninsula Regional Gallery, Civic Reserve, Dunns Road, Mornington, from 24 October 2009 to 29 November 2009.

Next at SSFA

JOANNA LAMB High Rise 26 Nov – 13 December 09

Perth-based artist Joanna Lamb explores the subtle nuances of the urban landscape in her forthcoming exhibition, High Rise. This series of paintings, all based on the one high rise building, modulated into tonal variations, have evolved through a slow process of meditation. Lamb’s crisp, precise landscapes have been described as “coolly Warholian”, and their smooth, flattened finish suggests the global, interchangeable nature of each landscape - Perth could be Sydney or New York or Beijing. High Rise will be Lamb’s second solo exhibition in Sydney and is an elegant furthering of the ideas explored in, Flatlands: A Continuing Romance series of exhibitions (Sydney/Perth).

EXTROPIAN A Group Exhibition Curated by Sam Leach 29 Oct – 15 Nov 09

In his curatorial debut at SSFA, Sam Leach presents an innovative group exhibition exploring the concept of extropianism, bringing together the work of Giles Alexander, Stephan Balleux, Tony Lloyd, Charles O’Loughlin, Topologies (Donna Kendrigan & Chris Henschke), Toshiya Tsunoda and Michael Graeve. Extropianism, also referred to as extropism or extropy, is an evolving framework of values and standards for continuously improving the human condition. Extropian thinking places strong emphasis on rational thinking and practical optimism and Extropians believe that advances in science and technology will someday let people live indefinitely. Each of the works in this show relate to extropian values in some way.

October 2009

Congratulations

Two of Penny Byrne’s works from her upcoming SSFA solo exhibition Interesting Times have been acquired by Newcastle Region Gallery.

Penny Byrne, Sherrie Knipe, Alexander Seton andTherese Howard are all finalists in the 2009 Woollahra Small Sculpture Prize. Established in 2001, the acquisitive prize offers a $10,000 award for the winning sculpture. Finalist’s works are exhibited from 24 October - 1 November 2009 at the historic Redleaf Council Chambers in Double Bay, Sydney.

Sam Leach has been shortlisted in the Eutick Memorial Still Life Award at Coffs Harbour Regional Gallery. The acquisitive prize offers a major award of $15,000. Finalist’s works are exhibited from 30 October 2009 - 2 January 2010.

Darren Sylvester’s self titled album has been launched to critical acclaim and is now available in music stores and online. The debut album was commissioned as a part of his work for the 2008 Optimism exhibition at GOMA, Queensland Art Gallery. Writing, performing and recording all of the songs on the album, Sylvester is a one-man band. It has been described as:

“a mix of wit, homage and melodic brilliance … making this strange art-pop artefact an unqualified success.” Michael Dwyer (EG, THE AGE)

“What he came up with just happens to be a contender for the slickest pop album of the year.” (INPRESS)

The album will be launched in Melbourne with other states to follow on Saturday 10 October 2009 at THE TOFF IN TOWN, Curtin House, 252 Swanston Street, Melbourne.

Limited edition vinyl albums are also currently available to order through SSFA.

Special Edition Cherry Red Vinyl LP
$100; edition of 200 (+ $15 postage and handling)

Black Vinyl LP
$30; edition of 300 (+ $15 postage and handling)

Laith McGregor features in a new publication Hair'em Scare'em. Produced by Gestalten, Hair'em Scare'em explores the inventive possibilities of hair as a medium for artistic expression in contemporary art and design. It will be available in bookstores across Australia from mid October 2009.

Arlene TextaQueen’s work will appear on the cover of Art Monthly’s October issue.

Go See…

The first survey exhibition of Sebastian Di Mauro’s work titled Footnotes of a verdurous tale: Sebastian Di Mauro 1987-2009 opens on the 31 of October 2009 at the Queensland University of Technology Art Museum.

Di Mauro’s sculptures, installations, paintings and artist books are featured in the collections of many key institutions including Queensland Art Gallery, Art Gallery of Western Australia, McClelland Gallery and Sculpture Park, Victoria, Museum of Brisbane and Artbank. Throughout the past 20 years Di Mauro has held over 35 solo exhibitions and his work has featured in over 90 group exhibitions in Australia and abroad. Curated by Simone Jones, the exhibition will run from 31 October 2009 – 31 January 2010 and will coincide with the launch of a major monograph about Di Mauro’s work.

Alasdair Macintyre’s work is included in group exhibition Twelve Degrees of Latitude: Regional Gallery and University Art Collections in Queensland. The exhibition showcases works selected from 27 of Queensland’s regional gallery and university art collections. Currently showing at Perc Tucker Regional Gallery, Townsville until 4 October 2009, the exhibition will tour throughout Queensland until late 2011.

Marc de Jong, Juan Ford, Sam Leach and Arlene TextaQueen have been invited to participate in group exhibition The Shilo Project at the Ian Potter Museum of Art. Curated by Dr Chris McAuliffe The Shilo project is based on Neil Diamond’s 1970 album, the cover of which features a connect-the-dots portrait of the musician. Over 100 contemporary Australian artists have been invited to complete their own version of the ‘blank’ cover. 28 November 2009 to 28 April 2010

Juan Ford is exhibiting a group show titled The Space in Between - Book Project at Wagga Wagga Art Gallery. Curated by Tara Gilbee, the exhibition includes artists’ responses to the internal space of carved-out books.

Penny Byrne, Sam Leach, Alasdair Macintyre VR Morrison and Darren Sylvester are included in group exhibition Horror - Come Darkness showing at Macquarie University Art Gallery. Exploring the genre of horror as an emotional state, Horror, Come Darkness features contemporary artists using cinematic effects, literary sources and technological visualisation, painting, stills, installation, and video and sound devices, for effecting the simulation of horror. 24 September – 11 November 2009.

Next at SSFA

KATE SHAW
Meridian 29 Oct – 15 Nov 09

Kate Shaw’s technique begins with the pouring of paints, inks and mediums allowing her to finds forms within the results. These forms are sometimes shaped and developed, and by a process of collage, evolve as rich and luxurious landscapes. The works often refer to places – that she is either inspired by, such as Antarctica or has visited recently, such as Kakadu, otherwise the imagery comes out of the suggested forms of the paint. The paintings speak of climate change, and also of the earth’s constant state of flux. Her work has been exhibited throughout Australia and internationally both in solo exhibitions and art fairs and was recently acquired by the Macquarie Bank collection

SEBASTIAN DI MAURO
Scuta 29 Oct – 15 Nov 09

Using non-traditional materials such as pot scourers, astro turf and neoprene (wet suit fabric), Sebastian Di Mauro’s forms thwart the traditional notions of sculpture. Scuta (from the Latin for “shields”) will be an exhibition of wall-based neoprene elliptical shapes in red, black and yellow. Like a suspended armory, Di Mauro’s shields hang in readiness for various Greek gods to collect. For Perseus (detail left) alludes to the slayer of the gorgon, Medusa.

September 2009

Congratulations

Laith McGregor and Simon Obarzanek have both been awarded an Emerging Artist New Work Grant by the Australia Council for the Arts. The $10,000 grant is awarded to craftspeople, designers, media artists, visual artists and arts writers with less than five years professional experience.

McGregor was recently also awarded a residency at the Centre Intermondes, La Rochelle, France, which will begin in November of this year.

Sam Leach and Laith McGregor have both been selected to participate in the Royal Bank of Scotland Emerging Artist Award(formerly ABN Amro Emerging Artists Award). The $15,000 acquisitive award recognizes and promotes the work of emerging Australian contemporary artists. An exhibition of finalists’ works opens on the 7 September and runs until 18 September at the RBS tower, Phillip St, Sydney.

Kate Shaw has been announced as a finalist in the Tattersall’s Club Landscape Art Prize. The winner of the acquisitive prize will receive $20,000. An exhibition of finalists’ works will be on display at the Tattersall’s Club in Brisbane from 7 – 11 September before it is hung in Waterfront Place, Brisbane from 14 – 25 September.
Go See…

Alexander Seton is exhibiting in group exhibition ARTLIVE at Chair and the Maiden Gallery in New York City. The annual exhibition includes works by international artists which address current issues affecting the arts community worldwide. The exhibition opens on 3 September at Chair and the Maiden Gallery, New York City. A second installation will take place on 9 September at Gallery 225 New York City.

Sam Leach is included in an exhibition in London at 3 Bedfordbury Gallery, Covent Garden, from 17 September to 28 September.

Juan Ford, Sam Leach and Darren Wardle are all included in the exhibition of finalists’ works for the 2009 Arthur Guy Memorial Painting Prize from the 9 August – 27 September 2009 at Bendigo Art Gallery.

Marc de Jong, Juan ford, Sam Leach and Arlene TextaQueen have been invited to participate in group exhibition The Shilo Project at the Ian Potter Museum of Art. Curated by Dr Chris McAuliffe The Shilo project is based on Neil Diamond’s 1970 album, the cover of which features a connect-the-dots portrait of the musician. Over 100 contemporary Australian artists have been invited to complete their own version of the ‘blank’ cover. 28 November 2009 to 28 April 2010

Next at SSFA

Penny Byrne

Interesting Times

1 – 18 October 2009
Opening: Thursday, 1 October, 6 - 8pm

May you live in interesting times.’ So goes the ancient Chinese curse.

With the world financial crash threatening global economic security, the continuing war on terror, ongoing instability in the Middle East, nuclear bomb aspirants in North Korea, political unrest in Iran and China, peak oil, predictions of world wide food shortages, the swine flu pandemic, rising sea levels, over population, water scarcity and drought here in Australia, and don’t forget that little chestnut – Global Warming/Climate Change – yes indeed, we do live in interesting times.

Penny Byrne 2009

Covering both floors of the gallery, Penny Byrne’s third SSFA solo exhibition includes reconfigured vintage ceramic figurines which tackle political, social and environmental issues with a hearty dose of wit and humour.

August 2009

Welcome

Simon Obarzanek

Photographer Simon Obarzanek was born in Israel in 1968 and currently lives and works in Melbourne. Exhibiting extensively since 2002, he has gained a significant reputation for his conceptually driven photographs that explore the expressive potential of the human form. Since graduating with a Bachelor of Photography in 1989 from the Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology he has had several solo shows including Portraits, Max Bernstein Gallery, Melbourne (2005); 80/137 Faces (2006), Centre for Contemporary Photography (2006); 80 faces, Karen Woodbury Gallery, Melbourne (2006); and 10pm-1am, Karen Woodbury Gallery Melbourne (2007).

His work has also featured in numerous group exhibitions including Order and Disorder: Archives and Photography (2008/2009) National Gallery of Victoria, Melbourne Art Fair, Karen Woodbury Gallery (2008) Light Sensitive (2006), National Gallery of Victoria, Figures of Question (2005) Ord Minnett, Melbourne and Commonwealth Place Contemporary Australian Portraits (2003) National Portrait Gallery, Canberra.

In 2008 he was announced as the winner of the Melbourne Airport Innovators Award at the Linden Centre for Contemporary Arts in Melbourne. He has been a finalist in multiple prizes including the National Portrait Prize, National Portrait Gallery (2008) Josephine Ulrick & Win Schubert Photography Award, Gold Coast City Gallery (2009 and 2007), William and Winifred Bowness Photography Prize, Monash Gallery of Art (2008, 2007 and 2006), National Photographic Purchase Award, Albury Regional Gallery (2007 and 2005), City of Hobart Art Prize, Tasmanian Museum and Art Gallery (2007), City of Perth Photo Media Award, Perth Institute of Contemporary Art (2006), Conrad Jupiters Art Prize, Gold Coast City Gallery (2005) and The Citygroup Private Bank Australian Photographic Portrait Prize, Art Gallery of New South Wales (2005).

Simon's work is held in major public galleries including the National Portrait Gallery,. Canberra, the National Gallery of Victoria, Melbourne, and the Powerhouse Museum, Sydney.

Congratulations

Laith McGregor has been announced as the Queensland winner of the Qantas Foundation Encouragement of Australian Contemporary Art Award. Established in 2008 the prize distributes $184,000 to artists from each state or Territory with each individual winning $13,000 in cash and $10,000 in air travel.

Marc de Jong’s painting Outback has joined the Macquarie Bank collection. De Jong is included in numerous institutional and private collections throughout Australia.

Therese Howard has been Highly Commended in the Waterhouse Natural History Prize. An exhibition of finalists' works is on display at the South Australian Museum until 6 September. The exhibition will then tour to the National Archives of Australia in Canberra from 24 September until 15 November 2009.

Sam Leach has been invited to enter the 2009 University of Queensland Self Portrait prize. The biennial prize is acquisitive with the winning artist receiving a $50,000 cash prize. First held in 2007, this prize encourages discussion about the resurgence of interest in artists' self representation, and larger questions regarding the position of the artist in society. The winner will be announced 27 November 2009 and an exhibition of finalists’ works will be exhibited at the University of Queensland Art Museum from 28 November 2009 to 24 January 2010.

Kate Shaw has been invited to enter the 2009 Kings School Art Prize. The annual acquisitive prize awards $15,000 to the winning artist. An exhibition of finalists’ works will be held at the Kings School in Sydney from 28 – 30 of August.

Switch On…

Kate Shaw will feature in an upcoming ABC Artscape documentary focusing on the 2009 Wynne prize. Tuesday 28 July 2009, 10pm ABC 1; Sunday 2 August, 7pm ABC2.

Sam Leach will appear on ABCTV Sunday Arts in a segment which explores the influence of outer space in several artist’s work. Sunday August 16, 5pm ABC1; 7:30pm ABC2

A documentary showcasing Darren Wardle’s work is due to air on ABCTV Sunday Arts in August (Dates to be confirmed).

Go See…

Therese Howard and Sam Leach are both included in the Waterhouse Natural History Prize exhibition of finalist’s work at the South Australia Museum from 18 July – 6 September 2009.

Juan Ford, Sam Leach and Darren Wardle have all been selected as finalists in the 2009 Arthur Guy Memorial Painting Prize. An exhibition of finalists works will be held from the 9 August – 27 September 2009 at Bendigo Art Gallery.

Sam Leach is also included in group exhibition, Surveying the Field ,at the Moreland City Gallery, Victoria. Showcasing seven leading Australian Artists who live or work in the arts in the City of Moreland, the exhibition runs from Friday 17 July - Sunday 16 August 2009

Alasdair Macintyre’s work is included in the upcoming group exhibition Twelve Degrees of Latitude: Regional Gallery and University Art Collections in Queensland. The exhibition focuses on the history of Queensland’s regional art collections. It is first major exhibition of works curated solely from Queensland’s regional and public gallery collections. Twelve Degrees of Latitude represents a significant opportunity to focus on the vital contribution made by Queensland’s regional and public galleries to the state’s cultural landscape. The exhibition will begin at Perc Tucker Regional Gallery, Townsville, 21August to 4 October 2009 and tour throughout Queensland until late 2011.

Simon Obazanek, will be performing at the Sydney Opera House in Lucy Guerin's new work Untrained. Two highly skilled dancers are set against two artists who have no movement training at all. The four are given identical instructions: to execute the same series of movements. 2 – 5 September 2009

Next at SSFA

Matt Calvert
3 – 20 September

With a practice that draws inspiration from his immediate environment, Calvert’s meticulously assembled sculptures incorporate a range of discarded materials including glass, metal and plastic to reflect on his experiences with and understanding of everything from urban architecture to childhood toys.

After receiving a Bachelor of Fine Art (Honours) from the University of Tasmania, in 1993 Matt Calvert was awarded aSamstag Scholarship which he used to attend Goldsmiths College at the University of London in 1994. That same year,Calvert took up a residency at the McCulloch Studio at the Cité International des Arts in Paris. In 2006 he was awarded a $20,000 New Work Grant for an Emerging Artist from the Australia Council for the Arts and was announced the winner of the City of Wyndham’s $25,000 Acquisitive Prize as part of this year’s Helen Lempriere Sculpture prize.
Calvert has been awarded residencies and commissions all over the world, including Australia, Malaysia, Japan and the United Kingdom.

Laith McGregor
Based on a True Fable
3 – 20 September

Since winning the Robert Jacks drawing prize in 2008, Laith McGregor has been firmly in the sights of curators, critics and collectors throughout the country. Graduating in 2007, the young Melbourne-based artist has been invited to participate in a string of important curated shows, including the Museum of Contemporary Art’s I Walk the Line, New Australian Drawing earlier this year, which saw one of the artist’s fine biro drawing blown up as a huge banner across the iconic Sydney building.

Working across a number of mediums, from his mesmerizing, intricate biro drawings to his compelling video works and moody oil paintings, Laith McGregor’s imagery combines the absurd, the surreal and the downright strange. Truth, as they say, is stranger than fiction, an idea which looms large in McGregor’s practice.

Based on a true fable will be McGregor’s first solo exhibition with Sullivan+Strumpf Fine Art. The show will include biro drawings, paintings, video and mixed media works

July 2009

Congratulations

Alexander Seton was recently announced as the winner of the 2009 Prometheus Art Award, with his work Life is a Game Young Man (Shuttle Endeavour). Established in 2005, the acquisitive prize valued at $15,000 encourages emerging artists to interpret our world in fresh and challenging ways and is aimed at creatively inspiring young children. Seton’s first solo exhibition with SSFA will be held next month from 30 July – 23 August.

Darren Wardle has been awarded an ‘International Export and Touring’ grant by Arts Victoria for his forthcoming solo show at Luxe Gallery in New York to be held from October 7 – November 8 2009. The program supports Victorian artists by building their international profile and by creating networks and employment opportunities.

Juan Ford, Sam Leach and Darren Wardle have all been selected as finalists in the 2009 Arthur Guy Memorial Painting Prize. Established in 2003, the acquisitive award offers $50,000 to the winning artist. An exhibition of finalists works will be held from the 9 August – 27 September 2009 at Bendigo Art Gallery.

Sherrie Knipe has been shortlisted for the 2009 Darebin La Trobe University Art Prize. Established in 1997, the biennial prize is dedicated to supporting and promoting contemporary visual artists and arts practices across Victoria. The winner of the acquisitive prize will receive $10,000. An exhibition of finalist’s works will be held at Bundoora Homestead Art Centre from 26 June – 1 August 2009.

Therese Howard is a finalist in the 2009 Waterhouse Natural History Prize. This year saw a staggering 837 entries with only 101 artists selected as finalists. It is Australia’s richest prize for natural history art with a prize pool totaling $114,500. Finalist’s works will be exhibited at the South Australia Museum from 18 July – 6 September 2009 and will tour to the National Archives of Australia in Canberra.

Several of Laith McGregor’s works have joined the collections of the National Gallery of Victoria and the Ballarat Art Gallery . McGregor’s first SSFA solo exhibition will be held from 3 – 20 September this year.

Switch On

Kate Shaw will feature in an upcoming ABC Artscape documentary focusing on the 2009 Archibald, Sulman and Wynne prizes which will air on Tuesday 28 July 2009, ABC 1 at 10pm.

Go See…

Penny Byrne is a guest speaker and exhibiting artist at the 2009 Australian Ceramics Triannale to be held at the National Art School in Sydney from 16 – 20 July. Titled, Facing the Future, the Triennale will focus on the relationship between contemporary ceramic practice and the emergence of diverse social, cultural and technological global forces. Byrne’s work is included in the group exhibition White Heat running concurrently with the Triennale from 12 June – 19 July 2009 at Manly Art Gallery and Museum.
Byrne will be speaking on Sunday 19 July 2009 at the National Art School in Sydney.

Juan Ford is showing in group exhibition, A Natural World, at Glen Eira City Gallery. Curated by Diane Soumilas, the exhibition includes artists whose work relates to environmental themes. 11 June – 5 July 2009.

Next at SSFA

Sam Leach
The Next Billion Years

30 July – 23 August

Sam Leach is interested in how wealth, politics and corporations have driven and shaped our culture. His stunning still life paintings of animals, encased in a layer of glossy resin, reference the 17th century Dutch still life tradition, but with a contemporary twist. His works are both exquisitely beautiful and deeply unsettling as they remind us of our own mortality. Leach’s second solo exhibition at SSFA, The Next Billion Years, includes breathtaking still life paintings which explore the ambiguous relationship between technology and animals.

Alexander Seton
Assembly

30 July – 23 August

Alexander Seton has earned a growing reputation for his marble and synthetic stone sculptures that play on optical illusion and the perception of surface. The work uses the tension and often contradiction between the traditional skill of carving and use of contemporary subject matter and concerns. In his first SSFA solo exhibition, Assembly, Seton presents a series of sculpted T-Shirts. Laboriously carved from marble and synthetic stone, Seton’s T-Shirts are manifestations of young male adult fashion and explore a discomfort with open public expressions of honesty in the age of Face book and Twitter.

June 2009

Alasdair Macintyre's work is now represented in the Griffith University Art Collection as part of a substantial gift by retiring Queensland art dealer Mrs Win Schubert, via the Josephine Ulrick and Win Schubert Foundation for the Arts.

Kate Shaw has generously donated two paintings to be auctioned by The Brains Trust to help fund the Prince of Wales Medical Research Institute. Kate is one of several leading contemporary artists who have provided works including Bill Henson, Fiona Hall, Tracey Moffatt, Marion Borgelt, Peter Alwast, Janet Lawrence, Richard Stanford and Guan Wei. The auction will be conducted by Sotheby’s director and Head of Australian Paintings, Georgina Pemberton on Tuesday 16 June 2009.

Arlene TextaQueen participated in a silent auction conducted by Marie Claire Magazine to help celebrate Go Red for Women Day. Leading artists and designers were asked to donate works based on "heart", "red dress" or "red". All proceeds from sales of the artworks went to the Heart Foundation. Go for Red Women Day is held on 12 June 2009.

Marc de Jong’s portrait of Rose Byrne appears in the new Harpers Bazaar publication, Australian Style. Incorporating Australian icons, fashion, beauty, architecture, art and travel images, the book captures the uniqueness of Australian life and style.

Switch on…

Alasdair Macintyre will be the focus of an ABC Artscape Documentary this Tuesday May 26 at 10pm. Alasdair’s fourth SSFA solo exhibition, Playtime, opens on Tuesday 2 June 2009.

Go See…

Penny Byrne has been invited to be a guest speaker at the 2009 Australian Ceramics Triannale. Titled, Facing the Future, the Triennale will focus on the relationship between contemporary ceramic practice and the emergence of diverse social, cultural and technological global forces. 16 – 20 July 2009.

Byrne will be speaking on Sunday 19 June 2009 at the National Art School in Sydney. Her work is also included in Group exhibition, White Heat, at Manly Art Gallery and Museum. Running as a part of the Triennale, the exhibition offers a space for discourses of social, political and cultural concern. 12 June – 19 July 2009

Byrne is also a guest speaker at The National Gallery of Victoria Women’s Association Decorative Arts Seminar on Wednesday 3 June 2009.

Juan Ford is showing in group exhibition, A Natural World, at Glen Eira City Gallery. Curated by Diane Soumilas, the exhibition includes artists whose work relates to environmental themes. 11 June – 5 July 2009.

Ford’s work is also included in Now & Then, an exhibition of key works in the Campbelltown Art Centre’s permanent collection. 8 May – 30 June 2009

Helen Fuller features in the upcoming group exhibition, Harvest, at the newly restored Museum of Economic Botany in the Adelaide Botanic Gardens. Curated by Peter Emmett, the exhibition focuses on plants and place and includes work from the Art Gallery of South Australia’s collection. The exhibition opens on Saturday 30 May 2009.

Sam Leach will be included in a group exhibition at the Moreland City Gallery in Victoria featuring the work of 6 leading contemporary artists with connections to Moreland's art scene. 17 July to 16 August 2009.


Next at SSFA

Marc de Jong PNTNGS 3/DRWNGS 1 30 June – 19 July

Following his successful PNTNGS and PNTNGS 2, Marc de Jong presents PNTNGS3/DRWNGS 1. The exhibition of de Jong’s distinctive paintings in the SSFA downstairs gallery will include imagery as wide ranging as off-shore oil rigs and junk heaps, and a portrait of Rupert Murdoch. De Jong, a bower-bird of contemporary imagery, plucks scenes of modern life from the pages of newspapers, the internet and the television. His distinctive pixilated technique of painting is easily translated to his large-scale prints, which include oversized images of the full moon, giant Hawaiian waves and binary stars. Printed in luscious flock onto phosphorescent painted backgrounds, these tactile works also glow in the dark.

Upstairs, de Jong’s drawings will be a revelation for those who have only experienced his oils and flock prints to date. The line works reference his 20th century heroes, Brett Whitelely and Donald Friend, and prove the artist’s ability with line. Over 60 small drawings will be hung Salon style and will give an entry into the artist’s life and times of the past five years. Subjects will include many of his Melbourne art world cohorts and scenes from his travels in Europe and Asia.

May 2009

Congratulations

Darren Sylvester features on the cover of the current issue of Art World. The major article within titled ‘I’m Your Fan’ details Sylvester’s latest SSFA exhibition and introduces his self titled album which was commissioned as a part of his work for the 2008 Optimism exhibition at GOMA, Queensland Art Gallery. Writing, performing and recording all of the songs on the album, Sylvester is a one-man band. A CD will be released by Unstable Ape records in mid-2009. Limited edition vinyl albums are also currently available to order through SSFA.

Special Edition Cherry Red Vinyl LP
$100; edition of 200 (+ $15 postage and handling)

Black Vinyl LP
$30; edition of 300 (+ $15 postage and handling)

Queensland University Art Museum recently acquired Alexander Seton’s sculpture Exercise Ball (Dust Collector). Seton’s work is held in numerous institutional and private collections both within Australia and abroad.

Alexander Seton’s first solo exhibition at SSFA is from 28 July – 23 August 2009.

Seton has also been selected as finalist in the upcoming Prometheus Art Award, with his work Life is a Game Young Man_Shuttle Endeavour. Established in 2005, the acquisitive prize valued at $15,000 encourages emerging artists to interpret our world in fresh and challenging ways and is aimed at creatively inspiring young children. An exhibition of finalist’s works will be held at All Saints Anglican School in Merrimac, Queensland. 23 May to 27 May 2009

A group exhibition titled Revealing Meaning in Cloth in which Helen Fuller featured has been awarded Best Exhibition by a Collective by the Adelaide Fringe. The award was presented in partnership with the City of Prospect as part of Prospect Gallery’s third Design Biennial and the 2009 Adelaide Fringe. The exhibition featured contemporary textile works by Craftsouth members who employ experimental approaches to textile design.

Laith McGregor and Arlene Textaqueen have both been selected for inclusion in Trunk Books Volume 1: HAIR. A part of a new series to be launched at the Sydney Writers Festival, the anthology explores the powerful, symbolic and sensuous properties of hair from antiquity to the present day and showcases writers and artists from across the globe. Available from 18 May 2009.

Switch on: ABC

Arlene TextaQueen’s new series of Textanudes entitled Naked Landscapes of Victoria, was the subject of an ABC Sunday Arts documentary which aired on Sunday 12th April 2009.

Sydney Ball featured in an ABC Sunday Arts documentary which aired on Sunday 19th April 2009. Ball’s major touring survey exhibition continues at McClelland Gallery and Sculpture Park, VIC (22 February – 26 April 09). Laith McGregor’s work also appeared as a part of a segment on the major group exhibition I Walk the Line: New Australian Drawing at the Museum of Contemporary Art. (17 March – 24 May 2009)

Both segments can now be downloaded from the ABC website.

Alasdair Macintyre will be the focus of an ABC Artscape documentary to be aired on Tuesday 26th of May.

Go See…

Sam Leach is exhibiting in a group exhibition titled Mute Relics and Bedevilled Creatures–Constructing an Antipodean Curio Cabinet at Counihan gallery in Brunswickihan gallery. Curated in celebration of Reconciliation Week 2009, the exhibition will feature the work of Indigenous and non-Indigenous artists who re-interpret the concept of the curio (curiosity) cabinet and histories of museum collection and display practices. 1 - 31 May 2009.

Finalists’ works in the Archibald, Wynne and Sulman Awards are currently being exhibited at the Art Gallery of New South Wales until 24th May 2009.

Archibald finalist
Sam Leach

The Wynne Prize finalist
Alasdair Macintyre

The Sir John Sulman Prize finalists
Marc de Jong’s
Juan Ford’s
Darren Wardle’s

At the SH Ervin Gallery the Salon de Refuses has gathered much prestige over the past decade with many of the finalists’ works equalling the standard of the finalists’ work in the other three Awards. This year SSFA artists selected in the Salon are Penny Byrne, and Kate Shaw. S.H. Ervin Gallery, Observatory Hill, The Rocks, 3 March – 7 May 2009.

Juan Ford is also a finalist in the prestigious Doug Moran National Portrait Award. Established in 1988, the Moran is the richest portrait prize in the world with the winner taking home $150,000. State Library of New South Wales 10 March - 3 May 2009.


Next at SSFA
Alasdair Macintyre – Playtime
1 – 21 June 2009

2008 saw Brisbane-based artist Alasdair Macintyre embark on inspirational international travel. The results will be showcased in a solo exhibition utilising both floors of the gallery and will include life-size sculptures, a scale that Macintyre is working on for the first time in his career, and will explore the quirky alternate reality of one of Macintyre’s most ambitious creations – the imaginary town of Splatsville.

April 2009

Congratulations

Laith McGregor currently features in the MCA’s group exhibition I Walk the Line: Contemporary Australian Drawing. The exhibition celebrates the current renaissance of drawing in contemporary Australian art which has been driven by a mostly younger generation of artists. Artbank recently acquired McGregor’s video piece ‘Maturing’ which can be seen in the show. Museum of Contemporary Art, Sydney NSW, 17 March – 24 May 2009.

McGregor has also been shortlisted for the 2009 Qantas Art Prize. He is one of only 24 finalists for the prize to be announced in May. The overall aim of the award is to increase awareness of Australian contemporary art by encouraging promising emerging artists to produce further work.

It is a unique art prize in that it recognises an artist's body of work rather than awarding artists for individual pieces. Eight emerging contemporary artists (one from each state and territory) will be awarded $20,000 cash and $10,000 worth of Qantas air travel to support their future work and expose their work to a wider community. With a total prize value of $240,000, it is the most generous art prize in Australia.

McGregor has several upcoming group exhibitions including Too Much of Me: 7 paths through the absurd, with detour an exhibition curated by Geraldine Barlow. Monash University Museum of Art, Clayton Campus, VIC, 15 April - 20 June 2009.

He will also feature in The more you ignore me, the closer I get, a video art exhibition curated by Alison Kubler. Queensland University Art Museum, St Lucia Campus, QLD, 2 March – 30 November 2009.

Therese Howard’s sculpture ‘A Fine Balance’ has also joined Artbank’s collection. A stunning example of her work, the piece explores the fragility of the eco-system.

Matt Calvert has been announced as a finalist in the 2009 Willoughby Sculpture Prize. Artists were invited to submit work relating to one or more aspects of the 2009 theme to rethink, reduce, reuse, recycle. The four r’s are designed to encourage discussion, generate cultural activity and connect people to place. 188 entries were received and only 48 works were selected by the panel. The winning entry will receive a $10,000 prize. An exhibition of finalist’s works will be held from 26 September – 5 October 2009 at a heritage listed incinerator building in Willoughby, Sydney NSW.

Calvert has also enjoyed success as a finalist in the 2009 Toorak Sculpture Prize. Aimed at linking the arts with business to form a unique cultural experience, the prize exhibits contemporary sculptural works in the shop windows and on the sidewalks of Toorak Rd. 1 – 31 May 2009.

Sebastian Di Mauro is making the most of his current residency in Barcelona. He reports to be travelling extensively throughout Spain, including to Malaga, Serville, Cordoba, Granada, Madrid, Sans Sebastian and Bilbao. It is no surprise that he is now making some new work, after being inspired by the great architecture and art he viewed on his travels.

Di Mauro has also received a grant from the Queensland Government to produce a monograph on his work to accompany his forthcoming survey show at QUT Art Museum. The show opens on the 29th October 2009.

Switch on: ABC

Arlene TextaQueen has been working on a new series of Textanudes entitled Naked Landscapes of Victoria, which she will ‘tour’ to various locations in regional Victoria in a custom painted Bedford van. The project is to be the subject of an ABC Sunday Arts documentary airing Sunday 12th April 2009.

Sydney Ball, will be featured in an ABC Sunday Arts documentary airing Sunday 19th April 2009. Ball’s major touring survey exhibition continues at McClelland Gallery and Sculpture Park, VIC (22 February – 26 April 09).

Alasdair Macintyre will be the focus of an ABC Artscape documentary to be aired on Tuesday 19th of May.

Go See…

Penny Byrne's work features in the Art Gallery of Western Australia's forthcoming design exhibition THING beware the material world.. Celebrating the human impulse to shape and re-shape the world around us, it includes furniture, lighting, sculpture, moving-image and photography from across the globe. 18 April - 25 July 2009.

Finalists’ works in the Archibald, Wynne and Sulman Awards are currently being exhibited at the Art Gallery of New South Wales until 24th May 2009.
The Archibald is one of Australia’s oldest and most celebrated art awards. It aims to foster portraiture, support artists and perpetuate the memory of great Australians. Sam Leach is a finalist in this year’s award with his portrait of indigenous activist Marcia Langton.

The Wynne Prize is awarded to the best landscape painting of Australian scenery in oils or watercolours or for the best example of figure sculpture, by an Australian Artist. Alasdair Macintyre’s sculpture Captain America earned him a finalist place.

The Sir John Sulman Prize is awarded for the best subject painting or genre painting or mural project by an Australian artist. The work of three SSFA artists is featured in the exhibition of finalists including, Marc de Jong’s painting Hold Up, Juan Ford’s An Inverse Folly and Darren Wardle’s Black Mass.

At the SH Ervin gallery The Salon de Refuses has gathered much prestige over the past decade with many of the finalists’ works being considered formidable, quirky masterpieces in their own right, more than matching the standard of the finalists’ work in the other three Awards. This year SSFA artists selected in the Salon are Penny Byrne, and Kate Shaw. S.H. Ervin Gallery, Observatory Hill, The Rocks, 3 March – 7 May 2009.

Juan Ford is also a finalist in the prestigious Doug Moran National Portrait Award. Established in 1988, the Moran is the richest portrait prize in the world with the winner taking home $150,000. State Library of New South Wales 10 March - 3 May 2009.

Next at SSFA
Private Treaty
21 Apr – 19 May 09

Every year, we present an impressive stock show featuring works from some of Australia’s greatest contemporary artists. Entitled Private Treaty, the exhibition presents a rich and eclectic array of paintings and sculptures by artists including Julie Dowling, Anne Wallace, Denis Nona, Ben Quilty, Michael Zavros, Tim Johnson, and Dale Frank.

Welcome Arlene TextaQueen

Introducing an exciting new addition to Sullivan & Strumpf - Australia’s felt-tip super-heroine, Arlene TextaQueen. With the perfect solo show to complement this year’s provocative Sydney Mardi Gras festival, Arlene TextaQueen presents a selection of quirky, intimate drawings of feisty female nudes in her first solo exhibition with Sullivan & Strumpf Fine Art which opens on March 3, 2009.

After re-discovering her childhood devotion to the felt tip marker, a medium that most Australians know as the humble ‘Texta’, Arlene has dedicated herself to drawing female “Textanudes” for over a decade. Each Textanude is an intimate and collaborative exchange between herself and the women Arlene chooses to draw, some of whom include performers and sex-workers. In a location of her subject’s desire they together choose accessories, props and poses that reflect their character.

Congratulations
Juan Ford is a finalist in the prestigious Doug Moran National Portrait Award. Established in 1988, the Moran is the richest portrait prize in the world with the winner taking home $150,000. Winners will be announced on Tuesday March 10 at the official opening at the State Library of New South Wales.

Alasdair Macintyre’s work The Artist in Society 1.01 will feature on the Joseph Campbell Foundation website in March. Each month, the site has a column which presents the work of 3 artists whose life or art have been influenced in some way by the ideas of Joseph Campbell, a life-long student and teacher of the human spirit and mythology. Established in 1990 the foundation was created to help people learn about myth, and its relationship to religion, art and psychology.

Helen Fuller has been invited to be a part of the ‘artist in residence’ program at Pembroke School in Adelaide. A regular feature of the school’s arts calendar, the program gives students the opportunity to work with and learn from professional artists.


Go See...

Following great success at Penrith Regional Gallery in Sydney, Sydney Ball: The Colour Paintings 1963 - 2007, is now open at its second venue, McClelland Gallery and Sculpture Park. Drawing from public and private collections, the exhibition examines the interests that have consumed this prolific and committed artist: abstraction and colour. Curated by Anne Loxley, the exhibition will tour until February 2010.

McClelland Gallery and Sculpture Park, VIC – 22 February – 26 April 2009

The Anne and Gordon Samstag Museum of Art, University of South Australia, SA – 11 November 09 – 14 February 2010

A 100 page fully illustrated Monograph on Sydney Ball’s work has also been published to accompany the survey show and is available to order through Penrith Regional Gallery. For enquiries please phone 02 4735 1100.

Laith McGregor will feature in the Museum of Contemporary Art's exhibition I Walk the Line: Contemporary Australian Drawing. The exhibition celebrates the current renaissance of drawing in contemporary Australian art which has been driven by a mostly younger generation of artists.
17 March – 24 May 2009.

McGregor will also be included in Monash’s University Museum of Art’s upcoming show Too Much of Me curated by Geraldine Barlow. Exhibition opens April 19 2009.

Penny Byrne’s second short film titled ‘Drag King Virgins’ has been selected to screen at the 2009 Melbourne Queer Film Festival (MQFF). Established in 1991 the MQFF is the largest queer film festival in Australia and one of the oldest in the world.18 – 29 March 2009.

Juan Ford’s solo exhibition, A Phrenologist’s Deceptions, at 24hr Art: Northern Territory Centre for Contemporary Art opened on the 13 February. Established in 1989 as a non-profit association, 24hr Art grew out of a long-standing desire of many individuals and organisations in the Territory for a venue dedicated specifically to the promotion and support of contemporary visual art. 13 February – 21 March

Helen Fuller is exhibiting in a group show titled Revealing Meaning in Cloth at Prospect Gallery in Adelaide. Curated by Annabelle Collett, the exhibition is presented as part of Prospect Gallery’s third Design Biennial and the 2009 Adelaide Fringe Festival. 1 – 22 March 2009.

Next at SSFA

Darren Sylvester
31 Mar – 19 Apr 09

The multi-talented Sylvester presents an exhibition which follows on from his installation I Was the Last in the Carpenter’sGarden seen over summer at GoMA’s much talked about exhibition, Optimism. The solo show will spread over both floors of the gallery. Downstairs will feature Sylvester’s newest work; which will include several large new photographic pieces. And concurrently in the upstairs space will host a mini-survey show of selected works from the past 5 years.

Best known for his ultra-slick photography, Sylvester’s has recently signed a record deal, to promote and distribute his debut album of ironic, cosy pop music in the coming months.

January 2009

Congratulations

Sullivan+Strumpf Fine Art is very proud to announce the addition of two new artists to the gallery, Laith McGregor and Alexander Seton. They will join the other SSFA artists in the eagerly anticipated annual group exhibition SSFA09 which opens 3 February.

Winner of the prestigious Robert Jacks Drawing Prize in 2008, McGregor works across a range of media including oil, video and the unusual medium of biro. McGregor draws on illusionary material to convey a sense of the uncanny in his work. The characters within each ‘portrait’ are derived from both factual and fictitious realms including hero worship and personal family stories. He has recently come to the attention of curators and collectors with an exhibition at the Institute of Modern Art, Brisbane and 2009 will see his inclusion in a number of other institutional exhibitions (details to be released). Australian Art Collector named McGregor as one of the “50 things collectors need to know” in 2009. His first solo show at SSFA will be held in September.

Alexander Seton’s works are meticulous and mesmerizing and bring new life to an old tradition, marble sculpture. The Sydney-based artist admits that his works, “explore the tension and often the contradictions of using traditional skill carving to express themes of the digital age”. With virtuosic skill, Seton has turned marble into a mattress and blanket and caesarstone into pink baby’s flesh, in his work Dancing Baby (above right) based on the web phenomena of the same name that appeared everywhere in the late 1990s. Still only in his early 30s, his work is known to many through his participation in Sydney’s popular, Sculpture by the Sea, Woollahra Small Sculpture Prize and the Helen Lempriere Sculpture Award and his works can be found collections including AGNSW, Newcastle Regional Gallery and the Danish Royal Art Collection, Denmark. Seton will have his first project show with SSFA in July/August.

Sam Leach’s exquisite painting, Peacock Robot Arm, has been acquired by Gold Coast City Gallery. His work was amongst three of the finalist works in the Stan and Maureen Duke Award that were purchased for the gallery’s prestigious collection. The Gold Coast City Art Gallery is one of Australia's most prominent public regional Galleries. The Gallery houses the renowned City collection of contemporary and historical artworks documenting the character of the Gold Coast as well as the development of Australian art practice. Leach will be having a solo exhibition at SSFA in August 2009.

Kate Shaw’s stunning painting, Liquidity, has been purchased by the Macquarie Bank Collection. The Macquarie Bank Collection was launched in 1986 with the objective of developing an outstanding collection of art works that is readily identified with the organisation, and which reflects the spirit and persona of the Bank. The Macquarie Bank Collection has earned a reputation as one of Australia’s most cohesive, considered and exciting compilations of contemporary Australian talent. The theme of landscape has been the focus of the Collection since its establishment as an area of artistic expression that is readily accessible to all. Shaw’s next solo exhibition at SSFA will be held in November this year.

Go See…<br/>
Juan Ford’s solo exhibition, A Phrenologist’s Deceptions, at 24hr Art: Northern Territory Centre for Contemporary Art is opening on the 13 February. Established in 1989 as a non-profit association, 24hr Art grew out of a long-standing desire of many individuals and organisations in the Territory for a venue dedicated specifically to the promotion and support of contemporary visual art. 13 February – 21 March

Next at SSFA
Juan Ford
Simple Interference
3 – 22 March

The landscape becomes us, and we it. But hasn’t it always been so? To consider ourselves somehow removed from the dirt we walk on is the result of our collective imagination at play, so it seems a personal revelation when it is made plain that it isn’t so. Perhaps this is what I am trying to paint.

Juan Ford 2008

Ford’s rich, elegant, hyperrealist portraits, and his hauntingly minimalist landscape paintings prompt us to contemplate humankind’s fragile interconnectedness with our environment.

Melbourne-based artist Juan Ford graduated from RMIT with a Master of Fine Arts (Fine Art) in 2001 after gaining first class honours for his Bachelor of Fine Art (Painting) in 1998. Since graduating, Ford has exhibited extensively throughout Australia in solo and group shows. He was a finalist in the 2007 National Artists’ Self-Portrait Prize at the University of Queensland.

In 2008/09 Ford’s work was exhibited in several major public institutional group exhibitions: Queensland’s Gallery of Modern Art’s Contemporary Australia: Optimism; the University of Queensland Art Museum’s Neo Goth: Back in Black; The Space in Between at Bendigo Art Gallery; and in Victoria’s Hamilton Art Gallery exhibition Eye to ‘i’ – The Self in Recent Art.
Last year Ford also completed two major portrait commissions – a portrait of Richard Larkin for Monash University Museum of Art, and of Deputy Vice Chancellor Prof Andrew Coats for Sydney University.

December 2008

Congratulations

Penny Byrne, Sherrie Knipe and Sam Leach are all finalists in the 2008 Stan and Maureen Duke Award. Established in 1968, the acquisitive award offers a total of $30,000 in prizes and acquisitions, with the winner taking home $10,000. Finalists works will be exhibited at the Gold Coast City Art Gallery, December 2008 – 8 February 2009

Penny Byrne, and Sherrie Knipe both feature in the text book Artwise Contemporary 2 – Visual Arts 10 –12 by Glenis Israel. The publication is a vital educational tool for senior art students that aims to introduce relevant and exciting new artists, explore recent works of establish artists and engender an interest in following new trends within the art world.

> Kristian Burford and Darren Sylvester have both been included in the new publication Current: Contemporary Art from Australia and New Zealand. Edited by Art & Australia, Current profiles the work of eighty diverse practitioners and celebrates the creative spirit that exists within Australia and New Zealand.

Go See…

Sydney Ball: The Colour Paintings 1963 – 2007 Penrith Regional Gallery & Lewers Bequest, NSW, 8 November 2008 – 25 January 2009

Sydney Ball is one of Australia’s most acclaimed masters of abstraction. In his 75th year, a major survey exhibition of his work has been launched at Penrith Regional Gallery. Drawing from public and private collections, the exhibition examines the interests that have consumed this prolific and committed artist: abstraction and colour. Curated by Anne Loxley, the exhibition will travel to two other venues including;
McClelland Gallery and Sculpture Park, VIC
22 February – 26 April 2009
The Anne and Gordon Samstag Museum of Art, University of South Australia, SA
11 November 09 – 14 February 2010

An 84 page fully illustrated monograph on Sydney Ball’s work has also been published to accompany the survey show and is available to order through Penrith Regional Gallery. For enquiries please phone 02 4735 1100.

Optimism

Darren Sylvester, Sam Leach and Juan Ford are all exhibiting in Contemporary Australia: Optimism at Queensland’s Gallery of Modern Art. The first in an inaugural major series of contemporary Australian art exhibitions at the Gallery of Modern Art, Contemporary Australia: Optimism, explores the rich, broad and complex territory of the possible in Australian life and culture. The exhibition presents work by more than 35 Indigenous and non-Indigenous, emerging, mid-career and senior artists from every state and territory. 15 November 2008 – 22 February 2009

Darren Sylvester will be performing songs from his debut album as part of YOU DON’T HAVE TO CALL IT MUSIC/ONE US CAN’T BE WRONG. Presented in conjunction with the Centre for Contemporary Photography on Wednesday 10 December, 8pm at The Toff in Town, 2nd Floor, Curtin House, 252 Swanston Street Melbourne. $10. Sylvesters’ album is exhibited as part of Brisbane’s Gallery of Modern Art exhibition Contemporary Australia: Optimism.

Next as SSFA:

SSFA09
3 – 22 February 2009

Every year Sullivan+Strumpf kick off the New Year with an exciting group exhibition which includes a new signature work from each of our represented artists. Every piece is as exceptional and unique as the artists themselves, ranging in medium, aesthetic style, and conceptual content. Stretching over the two floors of the gallery this exhibition celebrates our 5th year in existence and is our showcase group show of 2009. A fully illustrated catalogue will be available early next year.

Featuring work from each SSFA artist:

SYDNEY BALL
PENNY BYRNE
MATT CALVERT
MARC DE JONG
SEBASTIAN DI MAURO
JUAN FORD
HELEN FULLER
THERESE HOWARD
SHERRIE KNIPE
JOANNA LAMB
SAM LEACH
ALASDAIR MACINTYRE
LAITH McGREGOR
VR MORRISON
KATE SHAW
DARREN SYLVESTER
DARREN WARDLE

November 2008

Congratulations

Sydney Ball is one of Australia’s most acclaimed masters of abstraction. In his 75th year, a major survey exhibition of his work, Sydney Ball: The Colour Paintings 1963 - 2007, will be launched at Penrith Regional Gallery. Drawing from public and private collections, the exhibition examines the interests that have consumed this prolific and committed artist: abstraction and colour. Curated by Anne Loxley, the exhibition will travel to three venues including;

Penrith Regional Gallery, NSW, 8 November 2008 – 25 January 2009 McClelland Gallery and Sculpture Park, VIC – 22 February – 26 April 2009 The Anne and Gordon Samstag Museum of Art, University of South Australia, SA – 11 November 09 – 14 February 2010 A 100 page fully illustrated Monograph on Sydney Ball’s work has also been published to accompany the survey show and is available to order through Penrith Regional Gallery. For enquiries please phone 02 4735 1100.

Kate Shaw and Marc de Jong are both finalists in the Fleurieu Art Prize, the major prize of the Fleurieu Biennale, South Australia. It is Australia’s richest prize for landscape painting and offers $50,000 to the winning artist. Established in 1998, The Fleurieu Biennale has grown to become a major event on the arts calendar. It includes six different art prizes totalling $90,000 as well as numerous community workshops and events.
Sam Leach has also been announced as a finalist in two of the Fleurieu Biennale’s prizes including the Art of Food and Wine and the Fleurieu Water Prize, both prizes offer $10,000 to the winner. 7 - 30 November 2008.

Kate Shaw is a finalist in the John Leslie Art Prize. Presented by Gippsland Art Gallery Society, the $10,000 non-acquisitive award is for paintings depicting land related themes. 4 October - 16 November 2008.

Laith McGregor has been announced as the winner of the Robert Jacks Drawing Prize at Bendigo Art Gallery. The non-acquisitive prize is an annual competition that highlights contemporary drawing practice in Australia and offers the winning artist $5,000.

McGregor has also been awarded a grant and exhibition through the Queensland Institute of Modern Art’s New Fresh Cut program. 18 October - 19 November 2008.


Bendigo Regional Gallery recently purchased a major work of Sebastian Di Mauro’s, Folly, which was included in the 2008 Helen Lempriere Prize.

Di Mauro has also been commissioned to create a public art work for the Crime and Misconduct Commission in Brisbane.

Go See:


Darren Sylvester, Sam Leach and Juan Ford have been selected to show in Queensland’s Gallery of Modern Art’s Contemporary Australia: Optimism. The exhibition will present work by more than 35 Indigenous and non-Indigenous, emerging, mid-career and senior artists from every state and territory. 15 November 2008 – 22 February 2009

Juan Ford is exhibiting in a group exhibition, A Strange Façade, at Gippsland Regional Art Gallery in Victoria. 8 November - 7 December 2008

Having been commended in the Waterhouse Natural History Art Prize, Sam Leach’s work is currently on display at the National Archives of Australia in Canberra as a part of the touring exhibition. 25 September – 16 November 2008.

Next at SSFA

Darren Wardle
Modular Liberties
2 – 21 December 2008

Melbourne-based artist Darren Wardle, can often be found wandering the streets of New York or Los Angeles, camera in hand, photographing the hard edged architecture and graffiti, which, when merged in Photoshop, becomes the basis for his skillfully rendered paintings. His first exhibition with Sullivan+Strumpf Fine Art, set for December this year, comes off the back of a 6 month Australia Council residency in New York.

Since graduating with a Bachelor of Arts (Fine Arts, Honours) from RMIT in 1997, Wardle has been included in numerous national and international exhibitions and has completed several residencies in the United States. His works are held in significant collections including National Gallery of Victoria, LaTrobe University, National Australia Bank, Artbank, BHP Billiton as well as in private collections in Australia and the USA.

September 2008

Congratulations

The Melbourne Art Fair was a tremendous success for the three featured artists, Penny Byrne, Sam Leach and VR Morrison who’s exhibitions all sold out a few days into the fair. Byrne has been attracting a lot of interest of late with George and Laura Simply Adore the War on Terror appearing on the August cover of Art Monthly and she also features in the current issue of Artworld. Both Leach and Byrne had works purchased by Artbank at the MAF as did Jackson Slattery and Laith McGregor.

Sherrie Knipe also had success at the MAF with a major work purchased by Tasmanian based collecting group The Derwent Collection. Knipe is having a solo show, Homes Pun at Sullivan + Strumpf Fine Art, 6 – 23 November 2008.

Sebastian Di Mauro has been invited to produce a cast work as an edition of 12 for the inaugural Mayo Festival. Held at St Margaret’s Girls School in Brisbane, the festival is a weekend celebration of the Arts and includes an exhibition of small sculptural works and jewellery. 23 – 25 October 2008. Di Mauro is also currently working on a commission for the Crime and Misconduct Commission through Cox Rayner Architects in Brisbane. Penny Byrne and Matt Calvert are both finalists in the 2008 Woollahra Small Sculpture Prize. The $10,000 annual prize is the only national prize for sculptures of smaller dimensions (all sculptures must be under 80cm in any dimension) and it has attracted strong support from artists, collectors and critics since its inception in 2001. 24 October – 2 November 2008.

Sam Leach has been commended in the Waterhouse Natural History Art Prize. It is Australia’s richest prize for natural history art with a prize pool totalling $107,500. Finalist’s works are exhibited at the South Australia Museum from 2 August – 7 September 2008 and will tour to the National Archives of Australia in Canberra where they will be on display from 25 September – 16 November 2008.

Kate Shaw has released a fabulous new publication featuring her work from 2006 – 2008. It is available to purchase online at the online bookstore, Blurb.
Go See…

Darren Sylvester’s work, Forgotten and Alone but Trying is on display at Hazelhurst Regional Gallery and Arts Centre as a part of their third billboard project called Under Stars. Located in Hazelhurst gardens, the project includes previously exhibited photomedia images which are recontextulaised as large-scale billboards. 23 August – 30 November 2008.
Sam Leach is exhibiting in RMIT gallery’s current show Heat: art and climate change. Curated by Linda Williams and Sarah Morris, this major exhibition presents both Australian and international artists working across a diverse range of media to demonstrate how contemporary art practice is responding to the impacts of climate change. 12 September – 18 October 2008

Darren Sylvester, Sam Leach and Juan Ford have been selected to show in Queensland’s Gallery of Modern Art’s Contemporary Australia: Optimism. The first in an inaugural major series of contemporary Australian art exhibitions at the Gallery of Modern Art, Contemporary Australia: Optimism, explores the rich, broad and complex territory of the possible in Australian life and culture. The exhibition will present work by more than 35 Indigenous and non-Indigenous, emerging, mid-career and senior artists from every state and territory. 15 November 2008 – 22 February 2009

Next at SSFA

Post Chrysalis

Annie Aitken, Helle Jorgensen, Anthony O’Carroll, Edward Waring, Judy Garb Weiss, Heidi Yardley

7 – 26 OCTOBER 2008

Sydney-based art advisor, Natalia Bradshaw presents this exhibition at Sullivan+Strumpf Fine Art to provide exceptional emerging artists the opportunity to expose their work to discerning collectors

Post Chrysalis, a reference to the emergence from the cocoon, describes this exhibition of six remarkable emerging signed and unsigned artists working in mediums varying from crocheting, to weaving, to constructing with meccano, to painting. Post Chrysalis celebrates extraordinary creativity, command of media, while celebrating visual beauty.

August 2008

Congratulations

Emily Portmann has been announced as the winner of the Olive Cotton Award for Photographic Portraiture. The award which offers a major prize of $10,000 is a significant opportunity for both emerging and established artists. Finalist's works will be exhibited at the Tweed River Art Gallery until 21 September 2008. Emily will be exhibiting in a group show of artists under 35 at Sullivan + Strumpf Fine Art from 12 - 31st August 2008.

Jackson Slattery has been announced as the winner of the People’s Choice Award in the prestigious Metro 5 Art Award 2008. The Acquisitive award has a total prize of $50,000 with $10,000 going to the People’s Choice.

Marc de Jong, Therese Howard, Sam Leach, Emily Portmann and Jackson Slattery have all been invited to this year’s ABN AMRO Emerging Artist Award. The $10,000 acquisitive award aims to recognising and promote the work of emerging Australian contemporary artists. The winner will be announced on 16 September.

Juan Ford will feature in the prestigious invitation only Kings School Art Prize. The acquisitive prize valued at $15,000 will be exhibited at The Kings School, North Parramatta, Aug 15th - Aug 17 2008.

Laith McGregor has been short-listed for the Robert Jacks Drawing Prize. The biennial prize highlights contemporary drawing in Australia. Bendigo Regional Art Gallery, 6 September – 19 October 2008. McGregor will be exhibiting in a group show at SSFA from 12 – 31 August 2008.

Emily Portmann is a finalist in the Olive Cotton Award for Photographic Portraiture. The annual national award and offers a major prize of $10,000. Tweed River Art Gallery, 7 August – 21 September 2008. Portmann also made an appearance on Sunday Arts on 13th July 2008 in a segment discussing the recently published book HIJACKED. Portmann will be exhibiting in a group show at SSFA 12 – 31 August 2008.

The recent issue of Ceramics Art and Perception features an extensive 8 page article on Penny Byrne. The article explores Byrne’s career as both an artist and ceramics conservator and discusses the political and social premise of several of her artworks. Walton, Inga ‘Vicious Figurines. Penny Byrne’s Ceramic Advocacy’, Ceramics Art and Perception International, Issue 72, 2008, pp15 – 22.

Go See…
Darren Sylvester's Survey Show, Our Future Was Ours, will be exhibited at the Australian Centre for Photography until 30 August 2008. Spanning ten years, the exhibition explores the bittersweet candour that Sylvester has made his own. 25 July – 30 August 2008.

Juan Ford, VR Morrison and Darren Sylvester are all currently exhibiting in the University of Queensland Art Museum’s, Neo Goth: Back in Black, curated by Alison Kubler. This exciting exhibition explores the dark underbelly of contemporary Australian culture as it is manifested across art, fashion, film and literature. 25 July – 21 September 2008.

Sam Leach is curating a show at Block Projects called The Resurrectionists which will feature drawings from a variety of artists including SSFA artist Jackson Slattery. Block Projects, 11 September – 4 October.

Sherrie Knipe’s artist book, ‘Log Book’ made in the late 90’s will be on show in an exhibition at the State Library of Queensland, Freestyle Books: Artists’ Books from the Collection from 27 June – 12 October 2008.

Tom Polo is a part of a group show at Parramatta Artist Studios, And It Started With a Myth. The exhibition will be opened by MCA curator Glenn Barkley on 8 August and will run until 29 August 2008.

Next at SSFA

Sydney Ball In the Light of Colour
9 – 28 September 2008

In his 75th year, Sullivan+Strumpf Fine Art presents a small survey show of Sydney Ball works, Sydney Ball: In the Light of Colour. Included in the exhibition will be major works from Ball’s celebrated Canto series, rare Modular, Link and Stain series as well as works from the more recent series Structures 1 & 2. The exhibition has been assembled from the artist’s private collection and includes several works which have never before been exhibited in NSW. The show is a prelude to a major survey exhibition Sydney Ball: The Colour Paintings, curated by Anne Loxley of the Penrith Regional Gallery and Lewers Bequest, which will travel to other venues throughout 2008-10.

Penrith Regional Gallery, NSW - 8 November 08 – 25 January 09
McClelland Gallery & Sculpture Park, VIC – 22 February – 26 April 09
The Anne and Gordon Samstag Museum of Art, University of South Australia, SA – 11 November 09 – 14 February 10

June 2008

Congratulations

Jackson Slattery has been announced as the winner of the People’s Choice Award in the prestigious Metro 5 Art Award 2008. The Acquisitive award has a total prize of $50,000 with $10,000 going to the People’s Choice. His painting will become a part of the gallery’s permanent collection. The twenty finalist’s works will be hung at Metro 5 Gallery until July 6 2008.

Jackson will be exhibiting next at Sullivan + Strumpf Fine Art from 12 – 31 August 2008 in a group exhibition.

University of Queensland Art Museum has purchased Darren Sylvester’s sculpture Misscoria Crystal Collagen, following his solo exhibition at SSFA in February.

2008 is a big year for Sylvester with several significant exhibitions lined up including a major survey show, Our Future Was Ours, at Australian Centre for Photography, 25 July – 30 August, and the group shows FX in Contemporary Photography at McClelland Gallery, 18 May – 10 August, The Dating Show, at the Institute of Modern Art, Qld, 27 June – 27 July and Neo Goth: Back in Black at the University of Queensland, 25 July – 21 September.

A Sam Leach work has been acquired by La Trobe University.

Darren Wardle has gained representation with Luxe Gallery in New York following a six month Australia Council for the Arts studio residency in Brooklyn. Luxe showed Wardle’s work at the Sofia Bulgaria Art Fair and the CIGE Fair in Beijing this year and will present his first solo exhibition in 2009. Wardle's paintings explore the extended possibilities of the painting process, resulting in seamless, nearly cinematic urban landscapes. Wardle’s first solo exhibition at SSFA is in December 2008.

Emily Portmann’s work is included in a new photographic publication, HIJACKED. The book (available in bookstores) presents a diversity of Australian and American photography and is accompanied by a DVD featuring interviews with several of the artists including Emily. HIJACKED will be exhibited at Australian Centre for Photography from 12 June - 19 July.

Tom Polo’s work appears in an edition of Runway magazine, released 10 May. Runway is an independent, artist driven project primarily focussing on visual arts in Sydney which is aimed at enabling artists to participate on a level beside and beyond exhibiting.

Emily Portmann and Tom Polo are both finalists in the prestigious Churchie National Emerging Artists exhibition, Brisbane. The exhibition offers an inspiring glimpse into the future of the Australian art scene with the overall winner earning a $10,000 prize.

Jackson Slattery is a finalist in the 2008 Metro 5 Art Award. The acquisitive award is Australia’s richest prize for young painters under 35 with the winner garnering $50,000. An exhibition of the finalists’ work may be viewed at Metro 5 (Melbourne) from 29 May -1 June.

Go See...
Sydney Ball’s painting Untitled (Persian Series) 1967 will feature in an exhibition This Way Up which documents key post war abstract movements as represented in the La Trobe University Art Collection. The exhibition will be held at Bundoora Homestead Art Centre, 30 May – 2 July.

Kate Shaw’s solo exhibition will be on display at 24hrArt in Darwin from 20 June to 26 July. The exhibition will feature works produced in her recent residency at the centre.

Sherrie Knipe’s work In Sink is unveiled on 27 May at Monash Gallery of Art, Melbourne. This large aluminium sculpture consists of three over-sized, warped “sink plugs”. It’s a quirky and hauntingly beautiful work.

Jackson Slattery’s work will be exhibited along with the work of some other exciting emerging artists as part of Exploration 08 at Flinders Lane Gallery, Melbourne, 22 May - 8 June.

Next at SSFA

Melbourne Art Fair
July/August

The 2008 Melbourne Art Fair is almost upon us and we are thrilled to be presenting new work from Penny Byrne and VR Morrison at this year’s fair. For those of you who can’t make it to the MAF, we will be previewing the work at SSFA in July, before the journey south.

Tom Polo/ Emily Portmann/Laith McGregor/Jackson Slattery
12 – 31 August
Our August exhibition presents four dynamic emerging artists under 30. Each young artist contributes a unique perspective to contemporary Australian art and they work in mediums including photography, watercolour, biro and installation.

April 2008

Congratulations

Juan Ford has recently completed a major commission for the Monash University Museum of Art. His portrait of Richard Larkin, university professor and chair of Vice-Chancellors Australia, joins over 1200 other works in the prestigious collection. Artists such as Arthur Boyd, Rupert Bunny, William Dobell, Sidney Nolan, Clifton Pugh, John Perceval and Tom Roberts, Charles Blackman, John Brack, Robert Dickerson, Leonard French and Roger Kemp are represented.

The Monash University Collection was established in 1961 with the objective of founding a collection of contemporary Australian art that would be on public display throughout University buildings and would act as an educational resource. The collection has grown to represent a leading overview of Australian art, spanning a variety of media and artistic styles.

Emily Portmann is a finalist in the 2008 Josephine Ulrick and Win Schubert Foundation for the Arts Photography Award. The $10,000 acquisitive award is a compelling insight into the current concerns among artists using photography and has become a key exhibition in the contemporary art calendar. Gold Coast City Art Gallery, 5 April – 18 May 2008.

Kate Shaw has been awarded a residency at 24HR Art in Darwin for May and June of this year. Established in 1990, 24HR Art is a non-profit organisation which is dedicated to the promotion and support of contemporary visual art within the Northern Territory. The centre offers a varied program consisting of exhibitions of emerging and established artists, interdisciplinary and multimedia projects, artist talks, themed forums and professional development workshops.

Go See
Juan Ford is currently exhibiting in the group exhibition The Space in Between at Bendigo Art Gallery. The touring exhibition, curated by Tara Gilbee, includes the work of 32 artists. Each artist was asked to respond to the internal space of a book which had been carved and presented to them for artistic intervention. The result is an array of inspiring sculptural, installation, drawing and photographic works. Bendigo Art Gallery, 15 March – 13 April.

Ford is also showing in group exhibition Eye to ‘i ‘ – The Self in Recent Art at Hamilton Art Gallery, Victoria. The touring exhibition, curated by Geoffrey Wallis, presents the diverse ways in which contemporary Australian artists have explored issues surrounding personal identity. Hamilton Art Gallery, 9 April – 25 May.

Sam Leach is currently exhibiting in the group show Bal Tashchit: Thou Shalt Not Destroy - The Environment in Biblical and Rabbinic Sources at the Jewish Museum of Australia. Jewish and non-Jewish artists were invited to respond to the earliest readings of the Torah and re-contextualise its content in a contemporary framework in relation to environmental issues. Jewish Museum of Australia, St Kilda, Victoria 6 April – 29 June

Next at SSFA

Private Treaty 13 May – 8 June

Sullivan + Strumpf Fine Art present an exhibition of works by prominent Australian contemporary artists. Including works by Anne Wallace, Howard Arkley and Julie Dowling.

Julie Dowling’s The Visitors, 2002, features as a major work in the exhibition. Born in Perth in 1969, Dowling’s paintings are adaptations of Western portraiture and depict the experiences of her Aboriginal family. A central focus of her work is the strength and resilience of Indigenous women in the face of the challenges that have been inflicted upon them since colonialism.

The Visitors is a significant example of Dowling’s work and incorporates her trademark use of bright colours and glitter. The work explores the separation of families living in remote communities as a growing number of Indigenous people move to urban areas in search of work.

March 2008

MARCH 08

Congratulations

Sam Leach is a finalist in the 2008 Archibald Prize and Marc de Jong is a finalist in the 2008 Wynne Prize, both on at the Art Gallery of New South Wales until May. These prizes are some of Australia's the oldest and most famous.
Sebastian di Mauro has been awarded a Studio Residency in central Barcelona for January – April 2009 through the Australia Council. The $10,000 residency is a part of the Council’s Skills and Development Program that promotes excellence in the arts by providing professional development opportunities to artists who have demonstrated a high degree of artistic merit in their work to date.

Di Mauro has also been announced as a finalist in the prestigious Helen Lempriere National Sculpture Award (Folly pictured above). As Australia’s richest annual prize for sculptors in Australia, the annual award fosters and promotes contemporary Australian sculpture. Finalist’s works will be exhibited at Werribee Park from 28 February – 31 May 2008

Sam Leach appeared on the ABC’s Sunday Arts program on the 2nd of March as a part of their series Australian Artists of Tomorrow which profiles emerging artists. The broadcast is available to download from the ABC website, www.abc.net.au/tv/sundayarts, until March 16. Leach will be exhibiting at SSFA from 18 March – 6 April.

Penny Byrne has been asked to speak in a forum which is part of the Sidney Myer Fund International Ceramic Award at Shepparton Art Gallery. The award was established in 1997 to provide an unprecedented opportunity for a major international ceramic award and exhibition in Australia. Byrne will also be conducting a ceramics conservation workshop as a part of an accompanying program aimed at providing cross-cultural learning and exchange. 7 March – 27 April, Shepparton Art Gallery.

Therese Howard has been commissioned to create an artwork for the University of Western Australia Cosmology Gallery’s permanent collection. The collection will consist of site specific light and sound installations as well as sculpture, digital prints and paintings that compare scientific knowledge about the birth of the universe and the origin of life with traditional Dreamtime, Judeo Christian, Buddhist and Hindi Cosmologies. Exhibiting artists include Marion Borgelt, Rodney Glick, Cris Hill, Sohan Hayes, Mabel Juli, Eveline Kotai, Toogar Morrison, Perdita Phillips, Audrey Satar and David Sequeira. The collection was opened on 9 March by the director of the Art Gallery of Western Australia Gary Dufour.

Diary Dates

Darren Sylvester will be showing two of his video works, Don’t Lose Yourself in Tomorrow, 2004 and You Should Let Go of a Dying Relationship, 2006, in a season of artists’ videos at the Rooftop Cinema, Curtin House, 252 Swanston Street Melbourne, 2 – 15 March.

Sylvester will also be exhibiting in group show, Décor, at Glen Eira City Council Gallery. The exhibition includes some of Australia’s most highly regarded artists and runs from 12 – 30 March.

Kate Shaw is currently exhibiting in a group show, The Ides of March at ABC NO Rio in New York. The gallery was founded in 1980 by visual artists committed to political and social engagement. Their fifth annual group exhibition features artist collaborations, artist groups and artist collectives on all four floors of the building. 14 March – 4 April.

Juan Ford, VR Morrison and Darren Sylvester will all be exhibiting in the University of Queensland Art Museum's upcoming show, Neo Goth: Back in Black. This exciting exhibition will explore the dark underbelly of contemporary Australian culture as it is manifested across art, fashion, film and literature. 25 July – 21 September.

Next at SSFA

Kate Shaw
Redux 15 April – 4 May

Shaw expands the limits of painting, representations of landscape and the application of paint with her densely layered marbleized paint pours encased in resin. Her next exhibition is an exploration of the drastic effects of global warming and environmental degradation.
Shaw graduated with a Batchelor of Arts (Fine Arts) Honours at RMIT University in 1994 before completing a Diploma of Museum Studies at Deakin University in 1997. In 2007 she was highly commended in the ABN Amro Emerging Artists Award, was a finalist in the Fisher’s Ghost Award and received an Arts Victoria International Fund Export and Touring Grant.

SSFA Gallery Expansion

We are excited to announce that Sullivan + Strumpf Fine Art will be expanding in early 2008. SSFA will now incorporate both the street-level gallery and upstairs viewing spaces of the terrace.

SSFA started out exhibiting 7 artists in 2005 and over the past few years this number has grown to 19. The increased gallery and stockroom space will accommodate this expansion and will enable visitors to the gallery to view more of our artists’ work.

International Art Fairs

Ursula Sullivan has just returned from a busy trip to London where she attended Frieze and Zoo Art Fairs.

Both fairs project the excitement and energy that is alive within the contemporary art market and have become major events in the art calendar. Now in its 5th Year, Frieze Art Fair features 1000 artists and 150 of the world’s most dynamic contemporary art galleries. Zoo Art Fair has been running for 4 years and showcases emerging contemporary art talent from 61 arts organisations.