Opening tonight at 6pm Little Picture. The show looks amazing! Please join us for a wine and nibblies and some really fantastic art here at Retrospect Galleries.

Click here to see a preview of the show...

One of our popular guest artists at Retrospect Galleries, filmmaker Shaun Tan recently won the Academy Award for best animated short film with The Lost Thing.

The Lost Thing, which took over three years to create, is a 15-minute fable about a boy in Melbourne who, while collecting bottle caps near a beach, discovers a strange creature that seems to be a combination of an industrial boiler, a crab and an octopus.

Read more about Shaun's Oscar win here

Click here to view Shaun Tan's profile on Retrospect Galleries and see available works  

Directors Shaun Tan and Andrew Ruhemann accept the award for Best Animated Short Film for 'The Lost Thing'. Photo: Getty Images

View The Lost Thing website here

Let’s simply start by saying two words, Bob Dylan - the revolutionary man that has changed minds & inspired millions. This legendary songwriter and musician arrived on the music scene back in the 1960’s and for almost half a century, has released an album each year shadowing the preoccupations of generations.

See from images of the exhibition here...

Bob Dylan's contributions to the music industry cannot be compressed into a single page much less a short paragraph. His song writing is often held as his highest accomplishment, blending textural visual images, a stream-of-consciousness lyrical attack, and time-honoured folk traditions to create a sound and sense that strike listeners as somehow new and ancient simultaneously. Dylan has shown steadfast devotion to traditions of American song, from folk and country/blues to rock 'n' roll and rockabilly, to Gaelic balladry, even jazz, swing and Broadway.

Retrospect Galleries thought it only fitting that this legend be honoured and celebrated with an exhibition that ponders, reflects and portrays Dylan in all of his glory. In this group show, Dirt Road Blues, artists respond to the legacy of his incredible lyrics and music.The multifarious works range from lyric interpretations right through to portraits of the great man in performance mode.

The Dirt Road Blues exhibition opens as the legend himself flies into town, ready to headline a powerhouse line-up at the 2011 Bluesfest.  This Byron Bay event won a swag of awards in 2010 including 2010 Australian Event of the Year, Best Cultural or Arts Event and the 2010 The International ‘A Greener Festival ‘Award. 

Interestingly, participating artists have commented that they actually enjoy painting or art making to Bob Dylan music! Contributing artists include Lisa Lee, Donna Malone, Craig Martin, Luke Hallam, Simon McLean, Sarah Crawford, Susan Gourley and Shane Martin.

Lisa Lee’s enigmatic and faceless portraits show a bluesy figure masterfully playing his apparatus. The fluid movement and intensity of the works capture the gestures of this musician faultlessly. Lee has also created an arresting image of Dylan, Man in the long black coat, walking soulfully with cigarette in mouth (pondering a lyrical creation?) – while the world rushes by.

Craig Martin’s delightful watercolour work The beautiful blues, shows a solitary figure, seated in a mystical forest, communing with his instrument – formulating notes that morph into flowers that make their way to a higher plane.

It could be said that Luke Hallam’s staring portrait in blue, titled Just Bob, reflects the intense spirituality of the man. Of all matters religious, Dylan once said “This is the flat-out truth: I find the religiosity and philosophy in the music. I don't find it anywhere else.”

The loose, energetic work of Sarah Crawford, The One you Love, features a combination of portrait and lyrical text – translating in image the fact that truly superior music does not date and that Dylan’s work holds a place that spans generations.

In 2008, Bob Dylan’s unique contributions to American arts and letters received acknowledgement in the form of a Pulitzer Prize. His is the first popular musician to receive the honour. The citation from the Pulitzer committee recognized his “profound impact on popular music and American culture, marked by lyrical compositions of extraordinary poetic power.”
Dare I say that this wide-ranging body of works reflects the depth of variation in Dylan’s own musical career?

Decide for yourself! Retrospect Galleries Byron Bay proudly and humbly honour this man with beautiful, humourous, enigmatic and energetic works on show from Thursday April 21 to May 10. Opening night Thursday April 21, 6pm.

Sarah Watt is an AFI award-winning Australian filmmaker who has been working as a writer, director and producer of animation for over fifteen years. Sarah Watt studied fine art, majoring in painting and photography, at Phillip Institute in 1979-81, using her extraordinary creative talents, she also completed the brilliant children's picture book, Clem Always Could. She was awarded the Australian Centenary Medal in the 2001 Queen's New Years Honours List for her services to Australian society and to Australian film production.

See the exhibition of her upcoming show Little Picture here..

Read her artist profile here..

Right now I am…
catching up on my emails

At the moment I am working on…
little pictures, my exhibition at Retrosppect

In the last year I have challenged myself to…
explore more of visual arts process

My proudest moment this year was…
watching my son playing cricket in the firsts

My biggest mistake this year was…
discovering chocolate with sea salt

Recently I’ve been inspired by the work of…
Stephen Shore

When I’m stuck for ideas I usually…
keep working, there’s all those other ideas I haven’t done anything with yet.

I have always been fascinated by artists that…
can still make me see things in new ways

If I were to try my hand at a new artform, it would be… 
digitalized special effects

When I was a child I dreamt of…
hamburgers comes to mind I’m afraid. Maybe spiders.

My first job was…
selling buttons at Adairs

My first big love was…
dogs

The first piece of art I ever bought was…
I can’t remember, I swapped things for a long time

My favourite record cover of all time is…
I really can’t remember many but I always liked Creatures of Leisure by Mental As Anything

The best film I have seen this year is…
Welcome

If I could see any musician (past or present) performing live, it would be…
Dean Martin or Prince

In the film of my life I would like to be played by…
Simone Signoret or James Gandolfini

My Avatar would be…
healthy, gorgeous, Spanish maybe

My guiltiest pleasure this year has been…
chocolate with sea salt

If I am cooking for myself I…
make toast

My last meal would be…
something I didn’t have to cook

The last thing I do before I go to bed each night, is…
a suduko puzzle

I am currently reading….
Lorrie Moore –short stories

If I could be a mythical creature I would be….
The Loch Ness Monster

The best gift I have ever received was…
anything that people have made for me

My grandmother (pick one) always said…
a little fat is good for you.

If I was offered a billion dollars on the condition I had to give it all away, I would…

give it away

If I was heading off around the world and could only take three things with me, I would pack…
my camera, a sudooku puzzle , and my venolin unhaler

If air travel was no longer possible I would…
take a boat

If I was a superhero I would be…
male most likely

And my costume would be…
flattering

If my art could work for a worthy cause, I would dedicate it to…
the glass half full foundation

If I had to leave everything behind and flee to another country, I hope that when I arrived I found…
a welcome

The thing I loved about the 20th Century was…
I was there

If I could live in any one period of time, I would choose…
now

The most valuable lesson I have learned this year is…
don’t ignore the back of the fridge

The craziest thing I have done this year was…
ignoring the back of the fridge 

If I were to get a tattoo anytime soon, it would be… 
temporary

When I think about the GEC, I… 
I don’t

The rise of graphic art makes me think…
happy for shaun tan

I found the Bill Henson debate…
interesting

They say fact is stranger than fiction because…
it can be true

If I wasn’t so busy making art I would like to…
travel

In the next year I hope to achieve…
travel

BOOK LAUNCH AND EXHIBITION
 
BOOK LAUNCH
THURSDAY 28th April 2011- WILLIAM MCINNES Little Pictures Book launch 6PM
In conjunction with
 
SARAH WATT: Little Picture
With special guests Peter O’Doherty and Emma Walker
OPENING – 6pm SATURDAY 30th April 2011
Exhibition runs through to May 14th 2011
 
THURSDAY 28th April 2011- Little Pictures Book launch 6PM
 
Audiences around Australia and the world fell in love with Look Both Ways, the acclaimed film written and directed by Sarah Watt and starring her husband, William McInnes. Now the couple collaborate again to bring us Little Picture, an exhibition of Sarah’s photographs and William’s writing celebrating suburban family life.
 
After a recurring role on A Country Practice in 1990, William McInnes appeared in series such as Bligh, Ocean Girl, and Snowy before making his name as Senior Constable Nick Schultz on Blue Heelers in 1994. McInnes starred on the show until 1998. In 1999, he joined the cast of SeaChange as Max Connors, the new love interest of neurotic main character Laura Gibson (Sigrid Thornton) after Diver Dan (David Wenham) left the series.
 
Sarah Watt is an AFI award-winning Australian filmmaker who has been working as a writer, director and producer of animation for over fifteen years. Sarah Watt studied fine art, majoring in painting and photography, at Phillip Institute in 1979-81, using her extraordinary creative talents, she also completed the brilliant children’s picture book, Clem Always Could. She was awarded the Australian Centenary Medal in the 2001 Queen's New Years Honours List for her services to Australian society and to Australian film production.
 
To coincide with Sarah’s exhibition at Retrospect Galleries on the Gold Coast, William has written a story essay on photographs, caught moments, suburbia, summer and fragments of days that together add to his idea of their life. Sarah and William share a passion for Australia and for the characters who populate our homes and suburbs. William writes with wit and tenderness about these people in the exhibition publication Little Picturesthat accompanies Sarah’s photos.

William McInnes and Sarah Watt’s last collaboration was as lead actor and director of the multi award winning international hit film Look Both Ways.  William has since written a few books, a newspaper column and popped out another couple of award winning performances.  After another film, My Year Without Sex, Sarah has also been focussing on photography and drawing.  They have lived together for 20 years in the same house in a still pretty daggy suburb, with their 2 children, and minimum success with pets and organization.
 
Sarah Watt says ‘I guess we’ve been together so long, and spent so many mornings arguing over the newspaper and who did the dishes last, we have both become similar in what we think, and therefore write and draw about. Small domesticity against a backdrop of life’s big questions.’

Join us for an intimate evening of canapés and wine with renowned Australian author and actor William McInnes and celebrated AFI award winning filmmaker Sarah Watt. A signed, limited edition booklet of words by McInnes and pictures by Watt called Little Pictures will be launched exclusively at Retrospect Galleries, with profits going to the Queensland Premier's Flood Relief Fund.

William will read excerpts from this delightful book, and Sarah will take us on a journey of her history from fine art through to animation, film directing and back to photography again, making it an evening to remember.   

Tickets are limited and will sell out.  Please book early to avoid disappointment. Tickets are $30 and include canapes, wine and great company.

Retrospect Galleries, Broadbeach is located at the corner of Elizabeth Street and Oracle Boulevard, Broadbeach, on the Gold Coast. The new Gallery features 124 square metres of exhibition space, a gallery shop, café and fully licensed wine and tapas bar, in one of the world’s most desirable architect designed ocean front beachside precincts, the new Oracle at Broadbeach.

Thank you to all who came out to appreciate the quirky and enigmatic works of both Deb Mostert and Simon Mee. The opening night of 'Honestly!' and 'Chalk and Charcoal' was a very warm and inviting event… It was great to see theappreciation and response from all you wonderful artlovers who came to the event.

Unfortunately Simon Mee couldn't make it on the night, but people loved his work and it created many intersting and thought provoking conversations. It definitely was not a dull night.

See Deb's artist profile and available works here...

See Simon's artist profile and available works here..

Click on the image to see a slideshow of the evening and fantastic artist talk.

Read Helen Hawkes story on our recent Photographic exhibition in Byron Bay.

It's the mystery that surrounds a photo that photographer Toby Burrows likes to focus on in his work.

"I love the anonymity the obscurity... the idea that you don't know the whole story," he says.

Four of Burrows' works are currently on display in shutterspeed...

Shutterspeed in Byron Bay last month was our most successful photographic exhibition to date. Ali Mitton and Toby Burrows were the hit of the show with three of Ali's atmospheric photographs selling out of their edition in days, and all of the works that Toby Burrows sold out! There was a great deal of interest and support in all of the wonderful works shown, so thank to all the wonderful artists who made this such a special show! The opening night saw the who's who in the Byron bay photographic scene comig to support the artists on show, thanks for all who came to the opening night, and check out the pics to see if we capured you, unfortunately our resident photographer Alberto Sanchez was enjoying himself so much that he forgot to take photos until the end of the evening.

This show saw eight of our artists come together with individual photographs and separate bodies of work, which might be experienced as instances of the artists' persistent interest in mirroring. In some cases the works narrate what the mirror never tells and in others the photographs serve as a magnifying mirror - wiring humans and our environments together. Shutterspeed asks questions with both beautiful and haunting figurative imagery and pays homage to our culture with a photographic nod at a larger history of landscape representation.

Read the article written by Helen Hawkes from the Northern Star Newspaper here..

See images from the exhibition here..