![AROUND THE GALLERIES Dan RulePublished: The Age, A2, April 2-3, 2010.
WHAT David van Royen: Not MovingWHERE Centre for Contemporary Photography, 404 George Street, Fitzroy, 9417 1549, ccp.org.au
Showing alongside a fascinating suite of exhibitions at CCP – including Justine Khamara’s brilliant Erysichthon’s Ball and the Autumn Masterpieces collection – David van Royen’s photographs espouse not just an eschewal of form, but a digression of self. The large-scale self-portraits that comprise Not Moving re-imagine the vantage of the self-portrait and explore the tension between one’s self-perception or image and the realities of physical appearance. Each of the images feature van Royen, his face averted or obscured by his mop of blond hair, the camera’s release cable in full view. With the photographer/subject concealed, we’re led to examine his clothing, his surroundings, his choice of backdrop and composition. We see protagonist in baggy jeans and black trainers beneath a graffiti-scarred underpass; on a children’s bicycle; in the embrace of an elderly woman; in bed with another man. In his artist’s statement, van Royen asserts that our self-image or “inner picture” remains the same throughout our lives, despite the changes that come with age and time. By removing his face from view, he subverts this self-perception. Both the artist and the viewer are left to ponder a different kind of evidence of self – that of situation and place. The image of van Royen himself is a virtual blank slate. Wed to Sat 11am-6pm, Sun 1pm–5pm, until May 16.
WHAT Tony Garifalakis: Bad SceneWHERE Uplands Gallery, 247 High Street, Prahran, 9510 2374, uplandsgallery.com.au
There’s a resonance of activism to Tony Garifalakis’s defaced pop cultural images. Flooding stylised magazine portraits and airbrushed movie posters in swathes of glistening, black spray paint, his images leave only mouths, eyeballs or disembodied hairdos uncovered. On their own, the remaining anatomical bits and bobs become ghoulish, physically abstract and playfully obscene – retouched and airbrushed skin smothered in garish, lurid black. The works seem both a riposte and cry for help. While an obvious reading would be that of the celebration of pop-cultural sedition, Garifalakis also seems to broach more sinister notions of censorship and state control. By blacking-out the commercial images of contemporary capitalist society, he seems to allude to the same society’s “brand-building”; the state practice of editing or deleting evidence contrary to its own, self-defined identity. Tues to Fri 11am–5pm, Sat noon–4pm, until April 17.
WHAT Prue Crome: Land Light Project #1 / after the burnWHERE West Space, Level 1, 15–19 Anthony Street, city, 9328 8712, westspace.org.au
The first, transportive instalment of Prue Crome’s Land Light Project takes us within the fire-ravaged wilderness of Arthur’s Creek. Using a trio projectors – creating a seamless forest vista on three of the gallery walls – and a soundtrack of field recordings, Crome charts the forest’s rejuvenation in the year since the Black Saturday fires. What begins as a silent, post-apocalyptic landscape gradually comes to life. Splinters of green sprout from the ashen bush floor, only to flourish into dense foliage; echoes of rustling leaves and birdsong consume the once dead quiet. It’s enlivening. What makes Crome’s work – which is interested in the shifting refraction of light on landscape – so appealing is the fact that it transcends the calamitous “before and after” narrative of so much bushfire documentation. Instead, Crome immerses us in the destruction, only to witness, month by month, the beautiful activation and regeneration of nature. Wed to Fri noon–6pm, Sat noon–5pm, until April 10.
WHAT Jessica Hische: Drop Caps & Other Type WorksWHERE Lamington Drive, 89 George Street, Fitzroy, 8060 9745, lamingtondrive.com
Brooklyn illustrator and typographer Jessica Hische’s beauteous drop caps have been making their way into the text of many a blog over the last six months. Since starting her [start italic]Daily Drop Cap[end italic] project, in which she illustrates one new, alphabetically ordered drop cap per day and shares it via her blog, she’s become something of cult figure in typography and design circles. This compact exhibition brings together a remarkable array of individual drop cap letters and various alphabet prints (including one particularly stunning “vine alphabet”). What makes her typography so charming is its sheer whimsy. While beautifully balanced and designed, her letters avoid design-centrism. They’re open and evocative – the perfect starting point for any story. Wed to Fri 11am–6pm, Sat noon–5pm, until April 10.](http://25.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_l0e2klkiT61qa3c8ao1_400.jpg)
AROUND THE GALLERIES Dan Rule
Published: The Age, A2, April 2-3, 2010.
WHAT David van Royen: Not Moving
WHERE Centre for Contemporary Photography, 404 George Street, Fitzroy, 9417 1549, ccp.org.au
Showing alongside a fascinating suite of exhibitions at CCP – including Justine Khamara’s brilliant Erysichthon’s Ball and the Autumn Masterpieces collection – David van Royen’s photographs espouse not just an eschewal of form, but a digression of self. The large-scale self-portraits that comprise Not Moving re-imagine the vantage of the self-portrait and explore the tension between one’s self-perception or image and the realities of physical appearance. Each of the images feature van Royen, his face averted or obscured by his mop of blond hair, the camera’s release cable in full view. With the photographer/subject concealed, we’re led to examine his clothing, his surroundings, his choice of backdrop and composition. We see protagonist in baggy jeans and black trainers beneath a graffiti-scarred underpass; on a children’s bicycle; in the embrace of an elderly woman; in bed with another man. In his artist’s statement, van Royen asserts that our self-image or “inner picture” remains the same throughout our lives, despite the changes that come with age and time. By removing his face from view, he subverts this self-perception. Both the artist and the viewer are left to ponder a different kind of evidence of self – that of situation and place. The image of van Royen himself is a virtual blank slate. Wed to Sat 11am-6pm, Sun 1pm–5pm, until May 16.
WHAT Tony Garifalakis: Bad Scene
WHERE Uplands Gallery, 247 High Street, Prahran, 9510 2374, uplandsgallery.com.au
There’s a resonance of activism to Tony Garifalakis’s defaced pop cultural images. Flooding stylised magazine portraits and airbrushed movie posters in swathes of glistening, black spray paint, his images leave only mouths, eyeballs or disembodied hairdos uncovered. On their own, the remaining anatomical bits and bobs become ghoulish, physically abstract and playfully obscene – retouched and airbrushed skin smothered in garish, lurid black. The works seem both a riposte and cry for help. While an obvious reading would be that of the celebration of pop-cultural sedition, Garifalakis also seems to broach more sinister notions of censorship and state control. By blacking-out the commercial images of contemporary capitalist society, he seems to allude to the same society’s “brand-building”; the state practice of editing or deleting evidence contrary to its own, self-defined identity. Tues to Fri 11am–5pm, Sat noon–4pm, until April 17.
WHAT Prue Crome: Land Light Project #1 / after the burn
WHERE West Space, Level 1, 15–19 Anthony Street, city, 9328 8712, westspace.org.au
The first, transportive instalment of Prue Crome’s Land Light Project takes us within the fire-ravaged wilderness of Arthur’s Creek. Using a trio projectors – creating a seamless forest vista on three of the gallery walls – and a soundtrack of field recordings, Crome charts the forest’s rejuvenation in the year since the Black Saturday fires. What begins as a silent, post-apocalyptic landscape gradually comes to life. Splinters of green sprout from the ashen bush floor, only to flourish into dense foliage; echoes of rustling leaves and birdsong consume the once dead quiet. It’s enlivening. What makes Crome’s work – which is interested in the shifting refraction of light on landscape – so appealing is the fact that it transcends the calamitous “before and after” narrative of so much bushfire documentation. Instead, Crome immerses us in the destruction, only to witness, month by month, the beautiful activation and regeneration of nature. Wed to Fri noon–6pm, Sat noon–5pm, until April 10.
WHAT Jessica Hische: Drop Caps & Other Type Works
WHERE Lamington Drive, 89 George Street, Fitzroy, 8060 9745, lamingtondrive.com
Brooklyn illustrator and typographer Jessica Hische’s beauteous drop caps have been making their way into the text of many a blog over the last six months. Since starting her [start italic]Daily Drop Cap[end italic] project, in which she illustrates one new, alphabetically ordered drop cap per day and shares it via her blog, she’s become something of cult figure in typography and design circles. This compact exhibition brings together a remarkable array of individual drop cap letters and various alphabet prints (including one particularly stunning “vine alphabet”). What makes her typography so charming is its sheer whimsy. While beautifully balanced and designed, her letters avoid design-centrism. They’re open and evocative – the perfect starting point for any story. Wed to Fri 11am–6pm, Sat noon–5pm, until April 10.
