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Friday 18th - Sunday 20th November, 2011

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.

Exhibition:        SIMON MEE:  CHALK & CHARCOAL

Opening:         6pm FRIDAY 18th March 2011

To be opened by:    

Exhibition runs through till 31 March 2011


What of Woody Allen, his (and his characters’) absurd misadventures-
Well, they are a resounding success is what!  Likewise, visual artist Simon Mee’s success lies in humanities’ inherent imperfections.

We all get it, we all feel it or have felt it at one time…mumble under your breath, left out in the open, awkward, embarrassing failure. Or worse yet, not even being noticed! Despite your resounding intellect, self-affirmations and best intentions, you are still human.
 
What would Woody Allen think if he knew Simon Mee had used his name to embody a million beautiful failings of the “Less than ideal” human, without needing to actually explain them-

Having completed a Masters Degree in Visual Arts and being a University Lecturer stands Simon in good stead to make comment.  Simon has received grants from the Australia Council and Arts Queensland to produce new work, and has been the recipient of several art awards including the Churchie Emerging Art Award and the Logan Art Award.
 
Join Simon Mee on his expedition of narrative as he creates an experience that is much like a journey - mixing sincerity, allegory, humour and horror to create mechanisms for a shift in meaning. The source images for Simon’s intriguing works, skillfully executed in chalk and charcoal, are gleaned from old images, photos, postcards and illustrations.  The artist pieces together images with a sophisticated humour that cleverly keeps the viewer off-balance but still manages elicit an instinctual reaction or idea.
 
You won’t find a drawing of Woody Allen at this show, but you may find the ‘Woody Allen within’…

Retrospect Galleries QLD is one of the youngest and most exciting fine art galleries in Queensland. Located in a new architecturally designed premise at Broadbeach on the Gold Coast.  Featuring 124 square metres of exhibition space, we are located on the ground floor of The Oracle, a five star designer beachside precinct.   The Gallery represents a collaboration between Retrospect founder Bree Delian and respected Queensland art consultant Lorraine Pilgrim.

The Exhibition Chalk and Charcoal opens on Friday March 18, Check it out here...

 

Exhibition:        Deb Mostert:  Honestly!

Opening:         6pm FRIDAY 18th March 2011


Exhibition runs through till 31 March 2011, check out the exhibition here...


Kitsch (not to be confused with Quiche) within the visual arts is associated with images that convey excessive sentimentality and melodrama.
Snow domes, swizzle sticks and fridge magnets are the epitome of popular kitsch and are cheap and whimsical holiday souvenirs.  They are honestly kitsch, honestly ugly and honestly dishonest.  Snow domes are a poor reflection of the original and they make no claim to be anything other than a flawed imitation of something bigger, grander and purer.

We are seeing life through the glass darkly, a clunky imperfect version of what it should be.  They seem to the artist Deb Mostert, to be reminiscent of the human condition, a metaphor for our incompleteness, our dorky charm and potential as well as an acknowledgement of our frailty and the hope for the future.

In 2009 Deb won the Sponsors Prize for the Eutick Memorial Still Life Awards, in that year she was also the recipient of the New Generation People Choice Awards.

2010 was a stellar year for Mostert, being a finalist in the Duke Gold Coast Art Prize, the Redlands Art Awards, the prestigious Eutick Memorial Still Life Award, the Sunshine Coast Art Prize and the 2010 Northern Rivers Portrait Prize, Lismore Regional Gallery; just to name a few!

Deb Mostert’s beautifully executed works bring with them an instant warmth, a familiarity akin to an old friend or accidentally finding your favourite childhood trinket in an old box of junk.  There is magic in the fact that these worthless objects can hold so much personal significance and in an instant, can transport us to a time of innocence, purity and simplicity. In that instant, we remember and we connect.

An evening with Deb Mostert  - Objects Speak! Thursday 17th March 6pm

Join us for an intimate evening of tapas and wine with Deb Mostert as she shares some insights into her 20-year art practice and in particular, her recent still life paintings of humble objects and toys. Process and concept will be explored and shared through the presentation of a lively slideshow of key images from her still life collection.

This event is limited to 30 guests and will sell out. Please book early to avoid disappointment. Tickets are $40 and includes mixed tapas, wine and great company. Phone the gallery now on (07) 5538 8825 to secure your place.

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.

 

A Night with Doug Bartlett, Artists tell all…
Thursday February 24, 6pm – Dinner show

Join us for an intimate evening of tapas and wine with Nick Morris and Dave Bowers aka Doug Bartlett. The artists will talk about the joys of working in collaboration, and reveal the inspirations behind their images and unique working arrangements. The evening also includes and entertaining slideshow of their past 25 years of collaborative projects.

This event is limited to 40 guests and will sell out. Please book early to avoid disappointment. Tickets are $40 and includes mixed tapas, wine and great company. Phone the gallery now on (07) 5538 8825 to secure your place.

Check out their new show Double Extra Super

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.

 

Alberto Sanchez

Danza De Un Adios
'The Dance of Farewell'
$590.00
Size: 620 mm x 620 mm
Media: printed on 100% cotton rag 300 gsm archival fine-art paper then hand-painted with tea ink, acrylic paint, and gold leaf resin coated and completed with a natural timber Frame.

Each image will be out of a series of 20 only, but because of the nature of the hand painting and hand finish, each work is a one-off piece of art.

Danza Del Galan
'The Dance of the Gallant'
$590.00
Size: 620 mm x 620 mm
Media: printed on 100% cotton rag 300 gsm archival fine-art paper then hand-painted with tea ink, acrylic paint, and gold leaf resin coated and completed with a natural timber Frame.

Each image will be out of a series of 20 only, but because of the nature of the hand painting and hand finish, each work is a one-off piece of art.

Danza Del Viento
'The Dance of the Wind'
$590.00
Size: 620 mm x 620 mm
Media: printed on 100% cotton rag 300 gsm archival fine-art paper then hand-painted with tea ink, acrylic paint, and gold leaf resin coated and completed with a natural timber Frame.

Each image will be out of a series of 20 only, but because of the nature of the hand painting and hand finish, each work is a one-off piece of art.

El Duelo
'The Duel'
$590.00
Size: 620 mm x 620 mm
Media: printed on 100% cotton rag 300 gsm archival fine-art paper then hand-painted with tea ink, acrylic paint, and gold leaf resin coated and completed with a natural timber Frame.

Each image will be out of a series of 20 only, but because of the nature of the hand painting and hand finish, each work is a one-off piece of art.

Romance A La Luna
'Romance of the Moon'
$590.00
Size: 620 mm x 620 mm
Media: printed on 100% cotton rag 300 gsm archival fine-art paper then hand-painted with tea ink, acrylic paint, and gold leaf resin coated and completed with a natural timber Frame.

Each image will be out of a series of 20 only, but because of the nature of the hand painting and hand finish, each work is a one-off piece of art.

Romance A La Sol
Romance of the Sun
$590.00
Size: 620 mm x 620 mm
Media: printed on 100% cotton rag 300 gsm archival fine-art paper then hand-painted with tea ink, acrylic paint, and gold leaf resin coated and completed with a natural timber Frame.

Each image will be out of a series of 20 only, but because of the nature of the hand painting and hand finish, each work is a one-off piece of art.

Romance De La Pena
'

Romance of the Sorrows'
$590.00
Size: 620 mm x 620 mm
Media: printed on 100% cotton rag 300 gsm archival fine-art paper then hand-painted with tea ink, acrylic paint, and gold leaf resin coated and completed with a natural timber Frame.

Each image will be out of a series of 20 only, but because of the nature of the hand painting and hand finish, each work is a one-off piece of art.

Romance De La Pena
Romance of the Soul
$590.00
Size: 620 mm x 620 mm
Media: printed on 100% cotton rag 300 gsm archival fine-art paper then hand-painted with tea ink, acrylic paint, and gold leaf resin coated and completed with a natural timber Frame.

Each image will be out of a series of 20 only, but because of the nature of the hand painting and hand finish, each work is a one-off piece of art.

Romance Sonambulo
'Romance of Sleeplessness'
$590.00
Size: 620 mm x 620 mm
Media: printed on 100% cotton rag 300 gsm archival fine-art paper then hand-painted with tea ink, acrylic paint, and gold leaf resin coated and completed with a natural timber Frame.

Each image will be out of a series of 20 only, but because of the nature of the hand painting and hand finish, each work is a one-off piece of art.

Kellie O'Dempsey

Botticelli’s Beasts

In honor of the weird, wonderful and phenomenal beings that have entertained and informed the world I give you Botticelli’s Beasts. This sideshow family was collaged from a disintegrating antique book of Botticelli’s paintings. With ink, pencil  and paper I drew these images into a new existence. Botticelli’s Beasts  recognize the unique freak that lives within the individual.

Title: Perkeo of Prussia
Price: $ 450
Size: all dimensions in 525mm x 435mm
Media: Mixed media on paper
Description:  Perkoe was the dwarf jester of Heidlberg Castle in 18th century Germany. Famous for his intelligent humor and never saying ‘no’ to a drink, he was the famed protector of the barrel. A portrait of him still remains in the castle.

Title: Madame Annie Jones
Price: $ 450
Size: all dimensions in 525mm x 435mm Media: Mixed media on paper
Description: The bearded lady has raised interest for centuries and is known for her seductive power. In the middle ages it was believed a bearded lady was cursed by god and more recently in the early 20th century, a women’s beard was believed to be the result of an unhappy love affair. Annie Jones became a member of P.T. Barnum’s circus at the age of Four. She was famed not only for her beard, but also for her 2meter long mane of hair and her grace and charm.

Title: The Elongator
Price: $ 320
Size: all dimensions in 400mm x 325mm
Media: Mixed media on paper
Description: The Elongator is a character from the novel “All my friends are super hero’s”. In despair she tried to stretch herself around the city, in order to beat the time barrier to save the man she lost.

 

Title: Centaurian Angel
Price: $420 Size: all dimensions in 520mm x 385mm
Media: Mixed media on paper
Description: The centaur is a being caught between worlds. The half human and half horse, he is instilled with both a wild and innocent nature.

 

Title: Balancing Sisters
Price: $ 420
Size: all dimensions in 520mm x 385mm
Media: Mixed media on paper
Description: Drawing on the heritage of circus families, I made this image in reverie of the close friendship I have with my little sister.

Title: Birdgirl
Price: $450
Size: all dimensions in 520mm x 385mm
Media: Mixed media on paper
Description: Birdgirl was born of the the Botticelli beasts. She rose in honor of Betty Green, the original “ koo koo the bird girl”  who was famed by Tod Browning’s 1932 feature film “freaks”

 

Title: Circus companions
Price: $450
Size: all dimensions in 520mm x 385mm Media: Mixed media on paper
Description: The donkey is the clowns beast friend…. after the chicken

 

Title: Pony Boy
Price: $ 320
Size: all dimensions in 400mm x 325mm
Media: Mixed media on paper
Description: Again born of Botticelli, Pony boy is mother nature’s original child.

 

Title: Sofian Twins 1
Price: $320
Size: all dimensions in 400mm x 325mm
Media: Mixed media on paper
Description: Sofian means ‘he who walk s fast’. These twins have features of giraffes and move like gazelles.

Title: Sofian Twins 2
Price: $320
Size: all dimensions in 400mm x 325mm
Media: Mixed media on paper
Description: Sofian means ‘he who walk s fast’. These twins have features of giraffes and move like gazelles.

 

Title: Jesus the Monopod
Price: $320
Size: all dimensions in 400mm x 325mm
Media: Mixed media on paper
Description: Ancient Greeks believed the existence of mythical monsters called Sciapods . Sciapods lived on and shaded themselves with one foot. Jesus, in this case, has one healing hand.

 

Title: Joseph and the Jinni.
Price: $320
Size: all dimensions in 520mm x 385mm
Media: Mixed media on paper
Description: Joseph ( The claw) conjures up a Jinni that sits graceful on his heavy hand. The jinni or genie, is one of the sentient beings of Arabic folklore.

Craig Martin
Craig has seen himself as a high flying trapeze artist and coach, a guide on the Sydney Harbour Bridge, a social director on cruise ships, a bit of an actor and dancer, an international flight attendant and an illustrator and still has no idea what he wants to be.

The circus is a special place for me. Teaching and performing circus was the first vocation I found in life that gave me inspiration, purpose, fulfilment and confidence.

The collective title of my Carnies Kooks and Clowns pieces is, "When Clowns Dream". I wish I had more hours in my day so I could pump out all the images that come to mind when I imagine what clowns might dream about and long for.

Each piece represents a single clowns most treasured dream place. One has the biggest audience he could possibly dream of for his humble little performance, another lets fly with the biggest and best clown stunt ever performed and I love that he does it for no one but himself, the 3rd dreams of being "normal" and joining the masses but can never shake whats in his blood and the last clown wishes simply for what what I imagine to be a secret dream for so many of the literal and metaphorical clowns of the world, a place of stillness.

What made this idea so fun was the masks of clowns. I think their painted smiles is a metaphor for us all and it gives so much scope to the imagination to picture what greater truths and unique dreams might lie behind their... our immediate faces.

Taking a Bow
Price: $690.00 Sold
Size - Roughly A1
Media - Water colour, gouache
I've see this dream,
I live it now.
Before this all,
I take a bow.

BOZO RULZ

Price $690.00
Size: Roughly A1
Media: Water colour. Mainly used an orange rock found on the beach for most of the colouring
Description: Bozo really does rock. In his dreams he performs the biggest and best clown stunt ever. He is naked while windsurfing a clown car backwards across a desert along a cliff edge on two wheels as the cloud of dust building behind him screams "BOZO RULZ" across the sky with lightning. What I really like about Bozo's dream is that he's not doing it for any audience and isn't even aware of the paintings viewer who is the only person allowed to share his private dream.

Clown Time
Price $290.00
Size - A4
Media - Water colour and graphic pen
Description - A clown can only dream of a quiet place where there's no need to be anything for anyone.

Fitting In
Price $290.00
Size - A4
Media - Water colour, biro, coloured pencil on my sketch pad paper
I don't want to be different, I don't want to be seen, I don't want to stand out, I just want this small dream

Andrew Clements Forbes

Predominantly an installation and performance artist, Andrew is also instinctively and technically a sculptor and drawer. Born of artist parents Dorothy Forbes and Clem Forbes he has always studied drawing, painting and sculpture. His Bachelor of Arts in animation at Griffith University Brisbane further developed his interest in drama and film.

Creating and Directing  Omniscient Gallery he attracted consistent arts funding and developed his performance and theatrical installations, this chapter culminated in a massive site specific collaboration in the New farm powerhouse paving the way for the commissioning of the current powerhouse theatre and institution.

His spectacle theatre work is often satirical comical political aggressive and abrasive. It is ephemeral and commission based practice.
 
This drawing series is inspired by his performative experience from his world-renowned performance installation Wacko and Blotto. The works are ink pen on paper.
Andrew Forbes currently resides in Byron Bay Australia.

Mavin never wanted to be a clown
Price: $ 690.00
Size: 86cm x 66cm Framed
Media: pen ink paper
Description: Mavin never wanted to be a clown its written all over his face sometimes your just born into these things and you go along for the ride. Marvin actually just wanted to be a priest but tragically no one would believe him let alone take him seriously.

 
Title: Even Felix couldn’t believe he was an atheist
Retail Price: $ 690.00
Size: 86cm x 66cm Framed
Media: pen ink paper

Description:

Image: Felix wasn’t really a  funny clown he was however an atheist which was the only amusing thing about him the rest was all bells and whistles. He once auditioned for a spot in the notorious Wacko and Blotto show he slept threw the audition so they immediately gave him the part it was only when Wacko discovered during a intense savaticle that he was an atheist that he got the sack he is currently on full sick leave.

Cal MacKinnon

Backstage 
$1500.00
406mm x 609mm
Framed photographic print. Edition of 5. 

Cleo Bullen
$2200.00
762mm x 508mm
Framed photographic print. Edition of 5. 

Lennon Bros
$1800.00
508mm x 762.00
Framed photographic print.
Edition of 5.

Michelle Dawson + Hilary Herrmann

Born in New Zealand, Michelle moved to Australia in 1985. She has been working as a professional artist since 1996 and has studied both in Australia and the UK. Michelle has been shortlisted for several major art prizes including the Bendigo drawing Prize and the Waterhouse Natural History Art Prize. She has twice represented Australia at the Intercontinental Biennale of Small Graphics in Romania and was shortlisted for the CBCA 2009 Crichton Award for Best New Illustrator.

Hilary Herrmann is motivated to paint by the need to express her thoughts and imagination. The figures, creatures and visual references often reflect a wide-ranging curiosity and reference. A diverse range of sources that include fragments and abstractions from world mythologies, the kabbalah, poetry, novels, current affairs and personal memory. The works are a metaphorical place to find haven from the harsh and complicated of the modern world, the shadow of which is still discernable. This makes for a strangely compelling cocktail of, innocence, whimsy, longing and menace.

Circus Tricks ii
$4900.00
2000mm x 2000mm Oil on canvas

Fiona Kennedy Altoft

Fiona completed her Visual arts degree at QUT in 1993. She is a dedicated artist and art educator and believes that art is a reflection of the Artist. Born and raised in Roma, Queensland, she explores concepts based around play, society, childhood and domestic life.

These pieces tell the story of a cool charcter that you see at the show.  He can do it all, fly through the air, ride the motorbike round the cage and land perfectly everytime.   He is the image that I  have of the old circus, a true performer with character and passion.  Every childs hero and mine too.

Evil Caninel
$790
Size: 900mm x 900mm
Media: Acrylic and enamel on Canvas

Da daaaa
$790
Size: 900mm x 900mm
Media: Acrylic and enamel on Canvas

Flying Through the Air
$790
Size: 900mm x 900mm
Media: Acrylic and enamel on Canvas

You can run but you can't hide...
$830
Size: 1000mm x 1000mm
Media: Acrylic and enamel on Canvas

Off Season maggie
$890
Size: 1200mm x 900mm
Media: Acrylic and enamel on Canvas

Sarah Harvey

bird on a wire, 2010
Media: Gouache on book cover, mounted on wooden panel Size: 18 x 12cm
Retail Price: $280.00

 

 

the balancing act I, 2010
Media: Mixed media & collage
Size: 15 x 15cm
Framed Price: $190.00

the balancing act II, 2010
Media: Mixed media & collage
Size: 15 x 15cm
Framed Price: $190.00

the balancing act III, 2010
Media: Mixed media & collage
Size: 15 x 15cm
Framed Price: $190.00

 

the balancing act IV, 2010
Media: Mixed media & collage
Size: 15 x 15cm
Framed Price: $190.00

the lone clown, 2010
Media: Gouache on book covers, mounted on wooden panel Size: 18 x 12cm
Retail Price: $280.00

Simon McClean

 STELLA SWALLOWS SWORDS
  Charcoal on paper Framed   1000x750mm $1800

  LIFE IS A SIDE-SHOW
  Charcoal on paper Framed   1000x750mm $1800 

 

 

 

Susi Gourley

Susan was born and grew up in the small Victorian coastal fishing town of Port Fairy, renowned for its historic buildings, beautiful beaches and migrating mutton birds. However, at the tender age of forty it has been the Far North Coast of NSW that she has called home for the past twenty years. With ten years of academic achievements, Susan is near to completing her Bachelor of Visual Arts at Southern Cross University. This self-proclaimed late bloomer is a relative new comer to the commercial scene, but with increasing recognition plus full time commitment to her studio based arts practice, it appears that hard work and dedication is paying off for this artist who is flourishing in terms of artistic scope and invention.

Carousal i
Cotton paper cut-out on matt board, Framed
760mm x 1060mm $690.00

Carousal ii
$690.00
760mm x 1060mm
Cotton paper cut-out on matt board, Framed

Carousal iii
$690.00
760mm x 1060mm
Cotton paper cut-out on matt board, Framed

Maria Patterson

Little Bee
$1400
110cm x 90cm Framed
Pastel on Paper

The Catcher
$1200
100cm x 80cm Framed
Pastel on Paper

Trapeze girls
$800
57cm x 57cm Framed
Pastel on Paper

 

Emma Gale

Emma Gale was born in Sydney in 1972. She lives and works in the Northern Rivers. Emma finished her studies at Julian Ashton Art College in Sydney in 1989. Her experience as a graphic designer over a ten year period is evident through her work with strong iconic imagery and text. Her work demonstrates and celebrates a deep love of pattern and colour colliding with text and form, drawing from her local rural landscape, igniting imagination and creativity on a daily basis.

 Big Cat
 $1250.00
 1300mm x 1000mm
 Acrylic on canvas
 Big cats. what would the circus be like without the big cats. They always draw a 'ooohh' and 'arhhh' from the audience on their entrance, creating nervous excitement on their next performing pounce!

The Show Pony
$1400.00
1100mm x 1300mm
 Acrylic on canvas.
 They're colourful, they're showy, they're regal, they're spectacular, they are the circus ponies! Performing perfect routines with plumes of bright feathers and glittering braid, they're dressed to impress.

Nikky Morgan Smith
There is physicality to Nikky's work that is intimately encoded in the process. By building up and breaking down, incorporating and excluding, working intuitively at times and more formally at others, she holds together the elements of disorder in ways that cannot be imitated by planned decisions. In relinquishing some control of the work Nikky finds that the narrative reveals itself. Her instinctual gestures, assertive brush marks and image use lead through thoughts, behaviour, memories and actions.

'i scream'  (collaboration by Nikky Morgan Smith and Cameron Haughey)
size-90cm x 90cm
media-acrylic spray paint on ply. $850.00

'I scream' #2 (collaboration by Nikky Morgan Smith and Cameron Haughey)
acrylic on ply
60cm x 122cm. $830.00

Karena Zerefos

With a background in design, graduating from College of Fine Arts in 2005, Kareena works using a variety of media, including pencil, gouache, tea and ink, and often combines traditional drawing with contemporary digital graphic techniques.

Kareena has exhibited in solo shows in Sydney and Melbourne, as well as in numerous group shows across Australia. She also works on commercial illustration projects for the music, fashion and advertising industries.

From The Menagerie
2100 x 970 mm
Mixed Media. $2100.00

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

CARNIES, KOOKS AND CLOWNS SET TO INVADE THE HARVEST CAFÉ

On Saturday September 25th, Retrospect Galleries, in conjunction with, Harvest Café, Newrybar, present an evening of carnival whimsy, art and conversation combined with great food, wine, music and more.

Featuring artists Kellie O’Dempsey, Fiona Kennedy-Altoft and Craig Martin will each present a short artist talk on how the colourful world of life on the fringe influences their work.

This is the third and final of our Retrospect Parties at Harvest for the year.  This event is inspired by our upcoming Carnies, Kooks and Clowns exhibition (opening October 8), in which we have asked an interesting collection of artists to reflect on how they mix and interpret the eclectic and vibrant world of sideshow alley.

Roll on in on September 25 and share in their stories that span from the unbridled performer to the clandestine observer – from the heights of the flying trapeze to the bawdy burlesque backrooms.

Plus there’s great music and a delicious event menu put together by the fabulous Harvest Café team.

Our Retrospect Parties at Harvest have been complete sell-outs and we expect nothing less this time, so be quick to get tickets.

It’s on from 6.30pm, Saturday September 25 and bookings are essential.  Phone Harvest on 6687 2644.

Tickets cost $45, which includes a two-course meal and glass of mulled wine on arrival. For more information on Harvest Café and how to get there, go to www.harvestcafe.com.au.

JEFF RAGLUS AND VICTORIA GAYE, ART AND MUSIC, LIVE AT RETROSPECT GALLERIES Jeff Raglus rates that fact that he hasn’t had a 'normal' job since 1985,’ amongst his major life achievements.  Highlights of his career include making music in the 90s with Melbourne cult band The Bachelors from Prague, working with the The Black Sorrows too, and 10 years drawing for Mambo. In 2008 his debut CD release Ballatrix was hailed as “The record of the year, by a country mile,” by the Sunday Herald Sun in Melbourne and he continues to have a successful career as a self-termed Surf-Folk-Pop artist.

Not bad for a guy who got canned for his drawings at high school…

Jeff Raglus failed art in high school twice and his art teacher said his cartoons were rubbish.  For him this was a defining moment in which he accidentally and subconsciously joined the world of ‘outsider’ artists. Ragee left school early, bought an airbrush, spraypainted surfboards and joined a rock band. All along the line, in between hitting the road on tour, he printed t-shirts and created posters. Eventually he joined the cult Melbourne punk cabaret band The Bachelors From Prague, back in the late 1980s. He started painting with other members of the band leading to his first group and solo exhibitions, which quickly turned into sell our phenomena.

Around this time he also joined iconic Sydney based graphic company Mambo. He worked there for most of the nineties - when Mambo was still cool, and continued to hone his unique self-termed Surf-Folk-Pop art style. He has written and illustrated several children’s books, of which Schnorky the wave-puncher is the most well known. This children’s story about a nonconformist surfer dude was turned into a play by Melbourne based Arena Theatre Company in 1996 and toured around Australia and overseas for eight years. These days Ragee mainly concentrates on painting and playing his own original music.

He will be appearing at Retrospect Galleries 4pm Saturday August 14, with some brand new paintings and a special free performance of his two person band Victoriana Gaye, as part of their East Coast Tour, presenting beautiful folk music from the ‘Freak Folk of the Wild West Coast of Victoria’.

If you can’t make it along you can still check out his work, on exhibition until Wednesday August 25.

View his artist profile Here...

BEAUTIFUL TATTOO

A new exhibition celebrating tattoo art opens next week in Byron, featuring a surprisingly beautiful collection of artworks showcasing ink on the skin.

Multi-award winning local photographer Alberto Sanchez is making the final additions to a new series of works, showcasing the work of local custom tattoo artist Camilla (Millie) Zavattaro, owner of Rock of Ages Tattoos Parlour in Lennox Head.

The limited edition prints are layered photographs, in which his original portraits of local women have been marked and manipulated to create a series of unique hand worked montages, exploring the nature of body-art, beauty and tribalism.

Recently announced as the Australian Institute of Professional Photographers’ Portrait Photographer of the Year, Runner Up for Queensland, Spanish born Alberto says that in 2010 he has been enjoying extending his artistic practice in new directions.

Earlier this year he experimented with a series of images depicting iconic Byron Bay scenes, which he layered with words and textures to create original limited edition artworks, and he has been excited to witness these works hit a chord with local and visiting arts audiences. With the Tattooed show coming up, Alberto says he has been inspired to begin a new series, showcasing women and their body art against subtly decorated backgrounds, merging the idea of art on the skin and art on the wall.
 
He says he has always being amused by the contrary reaction tattoos have in the viewer, which he describes as often being disapproval and admiration in equal amounts, and hopes that by incorporating the tattoo into fine art photography, he can dispel some of the dispersions associated with body art forms.

The Tattooed show is being held in conjunction with Retrospect Galleries’ annual urban art show - an international showcase of cutting edge works by young artists, from around the world, now in its third year.

Retrospect’s Bree Delian says the Gallery is trying to broaden the show this year in recognition of the burgeoning tattoo culture.

“Although tattoos have been around for thousands of years, we are experiencing an explosion in the number of tattoo parlours, and also seeing the rise of custom tattoo artists like Millie Zavattaro, who are attracting attention to body art, as a significant art form,” Delian comments.

“Tattoos today are a far cry from the old sailor images, and there has also been a shift away from appropriating Indigenous designs from different cultures.”

“Now a new form is emerging, spearheaded by the artist/tattooist, whose work on the human canvas is created with artistic integrity by individuals working with their own individual forms of markings.”

“The interest in evident when you consider that regular clients may have to wait months for a booking at Rock of Ages, to be marked with one of Millie’s unique custom motifs.”

Also featured in the show are stunning works by Spanish artist Vilchez contrasting Latino Maras gang culture with that of Japanese Yakuza warriors, depicted as tattoos on the gangsters bodies.

The prints are created through a classic printing technique, mixing woodcut or linocut relief, with dry crystal etching for the tattoo, allowing the artist to have two different finishes in the same print.  Tattooed and Revolution of Art open 6pm Friday July 16 at Retrospect Galleries, 52 Jonson Street, with a live tattoo demo by Millie Zavattaro.  All welcome!

You can also check out the show online click here...

The Magic Faraway Tree - Art from Literature, and other stories…

Our third Retrospect Party at Harvest for 2010 is coming up very soon, at the end of the month, on Saturday July 31.

This time we are thrilled to present four local artists – Michelle Dawson, Sarah Harvey, Zom Osborne and Dolores Cupcake, to talk about their work and how words have inspired them.

Plus there will be a special guest appearance by Byron Bay Writers Festival Director, Jeni Caffin, who will introduce us to some of the highlights of this amazing festival, opening the following weekend and featuring special guests including Bret Easton Ellis, author of best-selling books, American Psycho and Glamorama.

So join us for an evening of art, conversation, great food, wine, music and more, as an introduction to our upcoming The Magic Faraway Tree exhibition, opening on the eve of the Byron Bay Writers Festival, Thursday August 4.

Our last two Retrospect Parties at Harvest have been sell-out events, so book your tickets soon.
It’s on from 6.30pm, Saturday July 31.  Tickets cost $45, which includes a two-course meal.

Phone Harvest Café, 02 6687 2644 or email goodtimes@harvestcafe.com.au

For directions to Harvest Café in Newrybar, go to www.harvestcafe.com.au.

Retrospect Galleries, in conjunction with artsCape Biennial 2010, presents the artsCape Indoor Sculpture Exhibition, featuring works from more than 40 local and international artists, including renowned Australian sculptor, Bert Flugelman, one of the best-known and most influential sculptors working in the country today, fellow Australian Greg Johns, Syrian Usama Al Nassar and Japanese artist Keizo Ushio.

With the ever-increasing focus on environmental issues in the world, it was considered timely to reignite artsCape in Byron Bay with plans to stage the event biennially. artsCape 2010 will be staged at a new site, Clarkes Beach Reserve, an exquisite natural setting in the heart of Byron Bay. It will be an event which appeals to our sense of wonder and our increasing interest with large scale sculpture.

Sculptures will be installed sympathetically within Clarkes Beach Reserve, suspended in trees, nestled in sand dunes, overlooking the ocean, amongst the Casuarinas, skillfully sited to show off this stunning natural setting at one of Australia’s most beautiful beaches. Sculptures will convey messages about nature, the environment and sustainability, through playfulness, humour, beauty, mystery and surprise; they will explore themes such as flora and fauna, ecology, marine conservation, water, air quality, the land, and indigenous culture.

Check out artsCape website here..

To find out more click here...

When local artist Katka Adams migrated to Australia, she and her mother shared a single suitcase, in it a Czech fairytale book…

Our upcoming exhibition Once Upon A Time, Is a show by four women who all spent their early years overseas. Misa Vojtech (Vancouver Canada) and from Europe - Katka Adams (Czech Republic), Cornelia Burless (Germany), and Hilary Herrmann (Germany via Kenya). These women explore how notions of the past and the innocence of childhood memory continue to shape their lives and art.
From diverse Continental beginnings to life in and around Byron Bay. Four local artists transport you back to their roots, through work that explores light and dark, and the influence of the fairytale.

Opening 6pm Friday June 11
Exhibition runs June 11 to 23

Click here for a full list of artists and a preview of the show.

Dress up in your best retro gear and get along to Retrospect Galleries from 6 to 9pm Friday May 21, for the opening of Retroism. There will be great tasting beers sponsored by local brewers Stone and Wood and the Retrospect crew will all be dressed up in fabulous vintage, thanks to the people at Yo Yo, local Byron Bay recycled clothing store. The show features works by 12 internationally accomplished artists who utilise nostalgic and retro imagery in diverse and exciting ways. Including renowned US artists Robert Mars and Cecil Touchon, Germany’s Mario Wagner, Brazilian Eduardo Recife, Dutch artist Hanneke Treffers (Handiedan), Australian Nick Morris (half of the infamous Doug Bartlett), alongside representatives from France, Belgium, America and the UK. There’s also a free curator’s talk at 11am Saturday May 22, presented by Kareem Rizk, who will share his experience of putting together an international show and comment on the work of the twelve Retroism artists from a global perspective. Click here for a full list of artists and a preview of the show.

When local artist Katka Adams migrated to Australia, she and her mother shared a single suitcase, in it a Czech fairytale book…

Our second Retrospect Party at Harvest for the year features talks by three local artists who all spent their early years in Europe - Katka Adams (Czech Republic), Cornelia Burless (Germany) and Hilary Herrmann (Germany via Kenya).

As an introduction to their upcoming Once Upon A Time exhibition, the trio of women explore how notions of the past continue to shape their lives and art.  Our last Retrospect Party at Harvest was a total sellout, so be quick to get tickets this time around. It’s on from 6.30pm, Saturday May 29. Tickets cost $45, which includes a gorgeous two course meal, glass of mulled wine on arrival, great art, interesting discussion, laid back music and good times. Phone Harvest Café, 6687 2644.

Click here for a preview of the show.

 

Take two artists: MAN (Jan Van Dijk), WOMAN (Michelle Dawson), add paint, crayons, wings, brushes, fur, pencils, scales, tails, ink, hooves, horns and charcoal, stir briskly... BEAST! Man Woman Beast is an exhibition of exciting new works from two of our most popular artists - Brisbane painter Jan Van Dijk and Banglow based artist Michelle Dawson (shortlisted for the 2009 Children’s Book Council of Australia Crichton Award for Best New Illustrator). Inspired by the fantastical creatures of myth and legend, they present a bewitching showcase of unexpected existence. Opening 6pm Friday April 16, until May 3.

Check out the exhibition here...

There’s a balance to be found between career, life, passion.  Somehow art survives and thrives in the inbetween….

Whimsical works on wood by artist designers Luke Taaffe and Mia Taninaka, including new solo pieces and some of their famous collaborations.

Friday February 12 to March 1.

Some great small deices inspired by his recent sojourn abroad. These will be framed for Art Sydne. Its titled Fire Hat

 

This is a show not to be missed

A group exhibition exploring the boundaries of religion, death, magic and mystery

Once a year in Mexico, family and friends come together for Día de Muertos, the Day of the Dead, a vigil to connect the souls of the living with their departed.  
Now, Retrospect Galleries presents The Day of the Dead Exhibition featuring new works exploring religion, death, magic and mystery by more than 20 local and international artists.

Works by local Northern Rivers’ artists James Guppy, Hilary Herrmann, Michelle Dawson, Anna Nordstrum, Cal Mackinnon, Cornelia Burless, and Alberto Sanchez, Brisbane’s Nic Plowman, Jan Van Djirk and Eileen Timbrell, Sydneysiders Andrew Hmnelinsky and Luke Taffe, Californians Harry the Hat and Kelsey Brookes, Tokyo based Aoife Tamura and many more...

Day of the Dead opening
6 to 9pm All Souls Day Sunday November 1
Dress in the style of Mexico’s Day of the Dead celebrations

Exhibition runs until November 22

 

Following the success of our recent event, ‘In Conversation with Doug Bartlett’, Retrospect Galleries is proud to present a second evening of intriguing discussion.

A morbid fascination
6pm Halloween eve, Saturday October 31
Harvest Café, 18 Old Pacific Highway, Newrybar

Join our panel of artists and industry experts to explore themes of art, death, religion and modern ritualism, as they relate to our upcoming show, The Day of the Dead.

Zenith Virago, death celebrant and educator, co-author of The Intimacy of Death and Dying

James Guppy, renowned Byron Bay painter

Nic Plowman, Brisbane based contemporary artist and survivor

Limited tickets available at $60 per person, includes a two-course meal and drink on arrival
Bookings, 02 6680 8825 or info@retrospectgalleries.com

The art of death and dying

Nothing is more certain in life than death, yet it’s an experience that’s commonly hidden from our everyday reality. A new exhibition brings the mystery out into the light and provides an opportunity to celebrate the loss of our loved ones.

In Mexico, November 1st is celebrated every year as the D a y   o f   t h e   I n n o c e n t s  or the D a y   o f   t h e   L i t t l e   A n g e l s .   N o v e m b e r   2nd   is the better know holiday, the D a y   o f   t h e   D e a d , when large groups of family and friends invade graveyards en masse, to celebrate and commune with their dear departed.
By comparison, western society often makes very little of death, hiding those we have lost away in eternally quiet cemeteries.  Sadness and grief are individual pursuits largely dealt with behind closed doors, or in clinics where grief-ridden family and friends boost already frightening statistics concerning Australia’s depressed population.

Byron Bay personality Zenith Virago is part of a small committed group who are trying to change this aspect of our local culture.  A celebrant of life’s most momentous circumstance, she has for the past 15 years, specialised in the fields of love and marriage, and death and dying.

Since 2007, Virago has organised an annual event, where people come together to honour their dead, in a bid to make death more familiar.  Held in Mullumbimby on the second Sunday in November, it’s a step towards a healthier community that allows people to deal with bereavement.

Art is a really big part of that process she believes and has therefore become a major element of her celebration. The first hour of the event is an opportunity for people to make something as a memento of those that they miss - a prayer flag, clay heart or anything they want, and inscribe it with a message.
Bree Delian from Retrospect Galleries Byron Bay agrees that art plays an important role in bridging the gap between life and ‘the other’.  Concerned that a lot of the ritual surrounding death in other societies is lost in the West, she has decided it’s time for a reminder.  

“Although we are confronted by death and violence in the media every day, we have shunted it away in our society,” she comments. “In pagan societies there was a much stronger connection and a much more outward display of death, which was beautiful and beneficial to people.”
“Looking at Mexico’s Day of the Dead, it’s so alien to us that people dress up, go to gravesites, take food for their ancestors, sing them songs, take part in parades and festivities,” she continues.  “But looking at other cultures and how they deal with death and give it purpose, can give life a new purpose too.”

This year, for the first time, Delian is organising an exhibition that gives artists the opportunity to explore the boundaries of religion, death, magic and mystery. Featuring works by more than 20 established and emerging international, national and local artists, she hopes that The Day of the Dead, will give people a glimpse into the realm of mystery, and make us rethink the importance of ritual.

Well known local artist James Guppy is amongst those who have agreed to be in the show, which he says deals with a theme he has been painting for decades.

“Once we have a consciousness of death, we live our whole lives with it,” Guppy comments. “Very early on in my career, one of my earliest works was a painting about the death of my father,” he continues. “These days I often allude to death in my work and sometimes quite explicitly, using symbols such as flowers, in an effort to imbue the mystery of our passing to this “amniotic other place” with a sense of poetic significance.”

Guppy has known Zenith Virago for years and says they are both striving to give death meaning.  “Zenith’s work is about introducing rituals that make it easier for the survivors to find sense in all of this,” he says. “I’m just trying to find meaning for myself, and hopefully that will help others.”

Brisbane artist Nic Plowman, has been practising successfully for years but has largely come to public’s attention since his sellout 2008 Magic Sex Death exhibition.

31 years ago Plowman was born with a congenital heart disease and has spent his whole life in and out of hospitals and on medication. Whilst the concept of death isn’t something that a lot of young people even think about, he says he can’t remember a time when those thoughts weren’t part of his reality.

Magic Sex Death is a collection of searing self-portraits frequently featuring skulls and crows surrounding the artist, as he appears attached to a variety of medical equipment.
“In trying to convey my experience of life and death to the viewer, I’ve realised that the most personal art is sometimes the most universal,” Plowman comments. “I know that one of the people who has bought a lot of my art is an open heart surgeon.  You never know who’s looking at your work and what life experience they’re bringing to it.”

Zenith Virago, James Guppy and Nic Plowman will share their experiences of art, death and modern ritual in a panel discussion to be held on Halloween eve at Harvest Café, Newrybar, Saturday October 31st.  Limited tickets are available at $60 per person, which includes a two-course meal and drink on arrival.

The Day of the Dead exhibition opens 6-9pm on Sunday November 1, until November 22. Other artists include Californian Kelsey Brookes, Tokyo based Aoife Tamura, Sydneysiders Andrew Hmnelinsky and Luke Taaffe, Brisbane’s Jan Van Djirk and Eileen Timbrell, and local Northern Rivers’ artists Anna Nordstrum, Cal Mackinnon, Cornelia Burless, Hilary Herrmann, Michelle Dawson and Alberto Sanchez and many more. See the exhibition gallery