Shows and open studios
It has been a fair while since I have written an entry, so it is with relief that I can finally hit ‘post’. Life has been busy, productive and, with autumn on its way, a little cooler.
In this post I’d like to mention some of the other artists’ work I have seen in Freo. Firstly, a couple of the artists in residence at the Arts Centre have discussed their work in open studio events.
Ritchie Hansel, an Indonesian graphic artist, gave a presentation about his skilled and humorous drawings that often incorporate an environmental message. Ritchie was commissioned to make a public artwork for the Jakarta Biennial last year. His work took the form of a billboard placed on the side of a bridge over one of the main streets in the city. The piece showed a timeline of noise pollution recorded over a 24 hour period and was intended as an alternative reminder of our environmentally damaging way of life.
During her residency at the Arts Centre, Jo Harrison, a British artist, has drawn on her training as an architectural draftsperson to create a viable and perfectly accurate drawing based on Perth’s modern buildings in life scale. The drawing hangs from cables on sheets of translucent drafting paper between which the viewer can wander, giving the installation a sculptural feel. Jo’s work explores how we relate to and inhabit architecture and is influenced by the Arts Centre building itself.
The major event in Fremantle during the following weeks is ‘Foto Freo’, an annual photography festival covering a number of venues in the city, it’s main exhibition space being the Arts Centre. During the opening night I enjoy a peek at the exhibition of Chinese contemporary photography in the downstairs gallery, yet will comment further when I have had a good look at this and the other exhibitions.
A number of photographers have shot work in and around Fremantle and a lovely exhibition has been put together of these electic images to accompany the main shows.
