On Friday 12th September, I had the pleasure of being invited on a guided tour of Sydney Contemporary at Carriageworks by well-known art dealer Michael Reid.
It was such a stunning afternoon of visual delights. As it turns out, Sydney Contemporary experienced a great year with $16 million dollars in sales and over 24,000 visitors. The space transformed to accommodate over 116 exhibitors and 500 artists which were included in the body of work.
In the collection I spotted a painting by King Charles when he was a young boy in 1948, a series of photographs by various artists including Max Dupain’s famous Sunbaker 1937.
Petrina Hicks, a Sydney artist, had several impressive hyperreal analogue photographs which captured my attention. I’ve heard of a bird in the hand, but never one in the mouth! Hicks’ ‘Shenae and Jade’ was rather striking. If you are an art lover, it’s worth looking this artist up. Hicks draws from mythology, fables, and historical art imagery to re-frame the contemporary female experience.
My absolute favourite was a large acrylic on canvas by Betty Chimney and Raylene Walatinna, a mother and daughter duo from South Australia. The duo captured the spirit of their ancestral lands with their artwork ‘The Red Earth of Indulkana’.
The piece was absolutely awesome, and I never use that word! I loved hearing the story behind the creation of this artwork and the fact that the mother and daughter bickered back and forth whilst working side by side. I was disappointed to leave without it, even though I would have had nowhere in my home to hang it!
