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

It was short and sweet and over so quickly I almost missed seeing it altogether, but fate intervened and thus it came about that I made it in to Jugglers Art Space for Through a Glass Darkly just before the show began bumping out. A joint show by local artists Belinda Sinclair and Clairy Laurence, walking in to Through a Glass Darkly was a little like stepping in to Tim Burton’s Alice In Wonderland, which was a bit weird given I’d been writing about it not half an hour earlier. With the monochromatic intaglio prints of Sinclair providing the perfect relief for the … Continue reading Through a Glass Darkly: the art of Belinda Sinclair and Clairy Laurence

“It turns out that an eerie type of chaos can lurk just behind a facade of order – and yet, deep inside the chaos, lurks an even eerier type of order.” Douglas Hofstadter Let’s talk about chaos and control. Specifically, let’s talk about the chaos and control currently on display in the Amber Wallis/Ari Athans joint show at Edwina Corlette Gallery. At first glance, the respective art practices of Wallis and Athans don’t appear to have a great deal in common. Wallis, based in Byron Bay, is a free-spirited painter of busy, emotional compositions full of bright colour and expansive brushstrokes. … Continue reading Controlled Chaos

Swimming in deep water unnerves me. I discovered this about a million years ago when I was a lifesaver on the Gold Coast. Being scared of what’s below you in the darkness is not ideal in that line of work, though it did tend to manifest itself in rather fast swim times just so I could get back into water shallow enough to see through. On the long training swims, way out past the break, I used to chant a little poem by ee cummings to myself to keep my mind calm and focused “for whatever we lose (a you … Continue reading Abbey McCulloch’s The Shallows

Blockbuster gallery openings in Brisbane are like…well, I guess they’re like big gallery opening nights everywhere – glamorous events chock full of socialites and celebrities of varying importance, all there for the free booze and the exposure in the weekend’s … Continue reading David Lynch: Between Two Worlds