This is a most exciting, bold and colourful exhibition celebrating our feathered avian friends in a variety of media. Twenty two artists are included.
Kayden Bailey is represented by the diptych Letting Go. Deceptively delicate in appearance, hung together they form a v shape composition full of swirling vibrancy.
The amazingly intricate and detailed work of Megan Barrass with parrots, cockatoos and native fauna is explosively colourful.
Andrew Bennett’s The Owl Index is hauntingly mysterious – an owl (symbol of wisdom) perched on top of old fashioned library card shelves against a nighttime landscape. Also important is the balancing meditation rocks on top of the shelves.
We also see Ebony Bennett’s delightful series of extraordinary paintings of close ups of birds portraits (eg Augustus the black cockatoo, Gladice the galah) cheeky, fluffy, confident and feathers ruffling. (Susie is like a model in a posh fur coat posing and looking seductively over her shoulder).
James Corbett’s striking object trouve sculptures are next – capturing a scrub turkey in welded car parts and Ernest Offers a Prayer before Testing his Flapping Machine constructed of assorted bits and pieces with its allusion to Icarus and also perhaps the Wright brothers.
Kasia Fabijanska’s enigmatic Night Flight depicts the moon through the trees and a barely visible flock of birds.
Thom George’s ceramic and acrylic Currawong in red and black is very thickly textured and captures a bird in flight.
Andrew Grassi Kelaher is represented by a most engaging series of seven works, very strong in composition and bold colour against a plain background, wittily capturing the bird’s character – as in Clever Cocky with the sulphur crested cockatoo holding a pencil and seeming to write and the mischievous Cheeky Lorikeet.
Elise Judd’s Flamingo is assertively pink, and in some ways the work is like a travel poster as there is a map of Africa at the bottom and the words Kenya and Tanzania graffitied in red.
Jess Leonard contributes some eye catching photos with striking use of cropping and detail and wonderful sense of texture of the feathers.
Will Maguire’s Ibis series of steel sculptures have a swooping singing curved line .
Niki McDonald’s work is very ‘pop’ art /Andy Warhol inspired and features native birds like the kookaburra and magpie.
Kathryn McGovern’s finely detailed and intricate works are included .
In Danielle Mcmanus’ work we see three paintings that are photo-realist and two of her more fantasy/dreamlike (Olive and In All her Finery) works.
Rebecca Pierce has included a charming series Baby Blue of six paintings of a young bird in blue, and some brightly coloured very thickly textured bird portraits.
In Simone Read’s work we see aerial views from a bird’s eye point of view over what appears to be the sea with a use of part of a frame to possibly delineate pools.
Dean Riley’s work is luminous with some extraordinary portraits of birds ( eg Cassowary). There is also comment on Australian society and history with Polly Wants A Colony (the cockatoo is caught in a cage surrounded by ant hills) and the Brett Whitely like The Endeavour with a stork observing the red ship with white sails gliding in. All against a blue background .
Ask and thou shalt receive by Al Roberts is a sculpture of a nude male strategically holding a bird in his hands.
The Collector by Annabel Scanlen is a delicate drawing of the interior of an old fashioned kitchen and there is a painting of birds on the wall.
Edgar Schilter’s Toucan and Tiger Moth is an aerial view of a bird and aeroplane flying over mysterious waters .
In Ben Tankard’s Unpopular Penguin series he refashions Penguin book covers
And finally Kayo Yokoyama has submitted two delicate fragile glass vases with charming bird designs.
The Birds runs at Traffic Jam Galleries 5-27 February 2021
Participating artists – KAYDEN BAILEY. MEGAN BARRASS. ANDREW BENNETT . EBONY BENNETT. JAMES CORBETT . KASIA FABIJANSKA . THOM GEORGE . ANDREW GRASSI KELAHER .
ELISE JUDD . JESS LEONARD . WILL MAGUIRE . NIKI MCDONALD . KATHRYN McGOVERN . DANIELLE McMANUS . REBECCA PIERCE . SIMONE READ . DEAN REILLY . AL ROBERTS . ANNABEL SCANLEN . EDGAR SCHILTER . BEN TANKARD . KAYO YOKOYAMA