Category: Visual Arts Writing

Visual Arts Writing1 Comment

The Other Art Fair, Sydney

Carrie McCarthy

I’m not sure there’s a busier place for art lovers than Sydney right now. Three major art fairs, the Archibald still hanging in the Art Gallery of NSW and White Rabbit Gallery opening their new exhibition all in the same week means there’s lots of competition for aesthetes attention this weekend. Yesterday alone saw the official openings of Sydney Contemporary, The Other Art Fair and Paradise Bitch which aside from anything else means the art scene is suffering one massive hangover today. At least we’re all in this together, right? So let’s start with The Other Art Fair, Australia’s version … Continue reading The Other Art Fair, Sydney

Visual Arts Writing2 Comments

Amber Boardman’s Oddities

Carrie McCarthy

Basically, at the very bottom of life, which seduces us all, there is only absurdity, and more absurdity. And maybe that’s what gives us our joy for living, because the only thing that can defeat absurdity is lucidity. Albert Camus People are weird. They’re frigging weird. I’m not talking about the crazies woven in to the social fabric of big cities, like the guy on my bus who punches the air around him and whispers “boo” in fellow commuters’ ears, or the witchy-looking woman on a Paris street who pointed her finger at me through a foggy window and screamed some unintelligible … Continue reading Amber Boardman’s Oddities

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Miles Hall: Solid Liquid States

Carrie McCarthy

Very rarely in the course of writing this blog do I get to enjoy art for its own sake any more. These days it’s all about researching the artist and understanding their motivation, deciphering symbolism and recognising influences, and then working out how to turn the visual into words so those messages can best be conveyed. It’s not a complaint, I love what I do, but sometimes I crave an artist whose work I can enjoy without the peripheral noise. So I’m really pleased that I made it beyond Jan Manton Art’s slightly intimidating entrance (which, by the way, you should … Continue reading Miles Hall: Solid Liquid States

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Discerning Judgment 

Carrie McCarthy

Every work of art is an uncommitted crime.” Theodor Wiesengrund Adorno, Minima Moralia I’m not sure there are too many places with less ambience than law libraries. Morgues, perhaps. Or dentist waiting rooms, I suppose. But if oppressive silence mixed with stifling beige is what you’re after, then the Library of Law is the place for you. It’s always seemed a shame to me that the endless stacks of periodicals, journals and peer reviews don’t hold a few more literary titles. Lawyers are probably the only profession other than writers for whom the use of language is paramount, so a few examples of … Continue reading Discerning Judgment 

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Waddell and Winton, the Painter and the Scribe.

Carrie McCarthy

Gazing across the choppy vistas of Craig Waddell’s most recent show, I can’t help but feel a sense of déjà vu. Headlands, with its craggy outcrops and deep dark blues, is full of places I’ve seen before but can’t quite think where. Places I know I’ve returned to time and again, yet struggle to find a location for in the old memory map. It isn’t until a friend sidles up beside me and whispers in my ear “far out, this reminds me of a Tim Winton book” that I realise it’s somewhere I’ve only ever visited in the pages of … Continue reading Waddell and Winton, the Painter and the Scribe.

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Take a Running Jump, Nikky Morgan-Smith!

Carrie McCarthy

Sitting on Nikky Morgan-Smith’s back deck overlooking the hinterland of Northern NSW, it’s hard not to imagine yourself taking flight and soaring out over this beautiful part of the world. Tucked down a bumpy old goat track in an area west of Byron Bay, the home is a bohemian hideaway situated in one of Australia’s most pristine regions. Veiled by the bush on all sides, it is typical of the bush retreats in the area. It has its quirks, as most places in Northern NSW do. Real estate agents would describe it as a renovator’s dream or as having a … Continue reading Take a Running Jump, Nikky Morgan-Smith!

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Hans Silvester, and the plight of the Omo River Valley Tribespeople

Carrie McCarthy

Those of us who love the arts know that the thought of life without art is a pitiful one. Some of us, myself included, would even go so far as to say that our lives depend on its inclusion. Likewise the need to reconnect regularly with nature in order to give our minds and bodies a rest, and provide the energy we need to keep going. The importance of art and environment is something we refer to time and again as we plead our case to the wider community for recognition, funding and protection. For the people of Ethiopia’s remote Omo River Valley however, the central role of art and nature to wellbeing is … Continue reading Hans Silvester, and the plight of the Omo River Valley Tribespeople

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Beautiful Mourning

Carrie McCarthy

About six years ago, my mother and I were lunching in a restaurant in London’s Primrose Hill when an unbelievably beautiful funeral procession came past. Two dappled grey horses with black feathery plumes on their heads pulled a shiny black carriage with glass windows, through which we could see a white coffin covered in flowers. The attendants atop the carriage were in full mourning attire, with top hats and grey striped cravats, the effect like something out of a Dickens novel. It was an odd sight in the middle of 21st century London, and had mum not been there too I’d … Continue reading Beautiful Mourning

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Julian Meagher, sensitive masculinity.    

Carrie McCarthy

​In one of life’s more curious turns, I ended up owning a cocktail bar about six years ago. Me, the chick with no hospitality experience, who’d never waited tables, never pulled a beer and didn’t know the difference between an ale and a lager, was suddenly having to work out how to change a beer keg and what the hell people meant when they asked for a “CC and dry.” To say it was a steep learning curve is an understatement. It was a world away from my previous life in writing and interior design. But the patrons and I survived the rocky … Continue reading Julian Meagher, sensitive masculinity.    

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Christian Flynn: An Index of Possibilities

Carrie McCarthy

There’s been a proliferation of ‘blink and you’ll miss them’ art shows in Brisbane over the last month, all of them adding to the buzz and vitality of the city’s art scene at the moment.  For three days only, the Hold Artspace in West End was given over to the work of local artist Christian Flynn, whose geometric abstractions are a study in colour, form and intent. A Heiser Gallery off-sight exhibition, ‘An Index of Possibilities’ continued Flynn’s exploration of abstract and non-objective painting, inspired by his interest in science fiction and the function of life. There is a friction … Continue reading Christian Flynn: An Index of Possibilities