Opening tonight - The Substation

SUB12 series two: opening Friday 30 July 2010 6-8pm.
exhibition dates: 30 July - 22 August 2010

SUB12 is The Substation's major contemporary visual arts program and is a series of three exhibitions featuring the works of some of Melbourne’s newest and brightest visual art makers.

SUB12 runs from 2 July through to 19 September, and is supported by Hobsons Bay City Council.

Officially launched by Cr Bill Tehan, Mayor of Hobsons Bay

Artists in series 2: Bonnie Lane, Brendan Lee, Dead Pan, Tully Moore, Julie Shiels, Kate Daw, Luke Pither

A most powerful transformative experience

Congratulations to Peter Ryan for his win at last night’s CCP 2010 Kodak Salon Awards.

Peter’s work Keeping me from infinitywas considered the ‘Most powerful transformative experience’. Quite the commendation!

For the last four weeks Peter has been running our teen photography workshops in conjunction with Monash Public Library service.

The Salon is on display 30 July – 25 September 2010 so go and check out Peter’s winning work.

Stephanie

100 Words: Photographers Speak

NPR produces 100 words, a series in which photographers describe their work—in their words. What makes them tick? What makes a great photo? Film or digital? Positive or negative? Subscribe to the podcast or get it direct to your browser.
http://www.npr.org/templates/archives/archive.php?thingId=125399107

MGA openings Saturday 24 July 3pm

Join us on Saturday at 3pm for openings of Living deadly: haunted surfaces in contemporary art and Concettina Inserra and Lyndal Walker's Taking pictures some time later.

Living deadly will be opening by Djon Mundine OAM, Indigenous Curator of Contemporary Art at Campbelltown Arts Centre. Djon is a member of the Bundjalung people of northern NSW and has had a career as an activist, curator and writer.

This major exhibition examines the way history and the dead haunt contemporary art. Curated by MGA Curator Stephen Zagala, Living deadly includes 49 works by nine artists, including photography, painting, drawing and sculpture.



images
Brook ANDREW The island I, IV, VI 2008 mixed media on linen, courtesy of the artist and Tolarno Galleries, melbourne

James MORRISON Worm blood dripping 2009–10 paper maché and ink in three pieces courtesy of the artist and Darren Knight Gallery, Sydney.

Marian Drew in Getty Museum show

Marian Drew's recently acquired work by the Getty Museum titled Lorikeet with Green Cloth from 2006 will feature in their upcoming In Focus: Still Life exhibition in the Center for Photographs from September 14, 2010–January 23, 2011.

The show presents "a survey of some of the innovative ways photographers have explored and refreshed this traditional genre"

In Focus: Still Life includes photographs from the Getty Collection by Charles Aubry, Walker Evans, Roger Fenton, Sigmar Polke, Man Ray, Paul Strand, Josef Sudek, and Thomas R. Williams as well newly acquired works being shown for the first time such as Lorikeet with Green Cloth (2006) by Drew.

Monash Gallery of Art has four works by Drew in its collection. Pictured is Drew's work Wombat and watermelon 2006, pigment ink-jet print on cotton paper. Monash Gallery of Art, City of Monash Collection, courtesy of the artist.

Fontaine de Vaucluse

Robyn Stacey's wonderful Fontaine de Vaucluse 2009 from Empire Line series is featured on MGA's 3 x 4.5 metre billboard at the corner of Jells Rd and Ferntree Gully Rd, Wheelers Hill.

Robyn is one of nine artists in Living deadly: haunted surfaces in contemporary art at MGA from 21 July to 19 September 2010. Living deadly will be opened on Saturday 24 July, 3.00pm by Djon Mundine OAM, Indigenous Curator - Contemporary Art, Campbelltown Arts centre. All welcome.

Mark Hislop

Banned books in Australia

The current exhibition at the Baillieu Library at the University of Melbourne (To Deprave and Corrupt: Forbidden, Hidden and Censored Books, 7 June-29 August, 2010) explores "banned books" and censorship in Australia. Associate Professor Robert Nelson (Associate Dean, Art & Design , Monash University) is talking on the Henson & Serrano affairs on Thursday 12 August. Also on the bill is Dr Philip Nitschke and Dr Donald McDonald.
http://www.lib.unimelb.edu.au/collections/special/exhibitions/bannedbooks/

Amanda

Limited places still available!

Our upcoming four-part course An armchair guide to contemporary Aboriginal art with Susan McCulloch & Emily McCulloch Childs kicks off next Thursday and will provide an in-depth and insightful introduction to contemporary Aboriginal art for the beginner, enthusiast and collector.

Get in early and purchase the full series ticket to receive a complimentary copy of the best-selling book McCulloch's Contemporary Aboriginal Art: the complete guide.

Full series subscriptions are just $135 General public/ $115 Friends of MGA
Individual sessions are $35 General/ $30 Friends of MGA

Call MGA 03 8544 0500 to book and head here for session descriptions.

Prepare to be Hijacked!

Regular MGA visitors would recall last year’s exhibition Presentation/Representation: photography from Germany which featured, amongst the other nine contemporary German artists, the work of Heidi Specker.

During Presentation/Representation’s tour to Sydney, Heidi Specker and Theo Deutinger worked together as part of an artist-in-residence project at the Sydney College of the Arts. The resulting body of work ‘Help me I am blind’ is being displayed at RMIT Gallery from 23 July–11 September 2010.

Which is just enough time to whet your appetite for some more German-Australian photographic connections. Coming to MGA at the end of October is Hijacked 2 Australia/Germany. Combining the work of 32 German and Australian photographers the book and exhibition provide an opportunity for cross-cultural conversations.

The Melbourne leg of Hijacked 2 will open at MGA on Sat 30 October 2010 and features a number of MGA Collection artists including Georgia Metaxas, Rebecca Ann Hobbs and Polixeni Papapetrou alongside some photographers whose work would be familiar from past MGA exhibitions both solo and as part of the William & Winifred Bowness Photography Prize: Louis Porter, Bronek Kozka and Michael Corridore.

Image: Heidi SPECKER D'ELSI Eis 1-3 2007, Digital Fine Art Print courtesy of the artist

Anne Zahalka: The way things appear

Winter is a good time for exhibitions throughout Melbourne. It can be easy to miss them though as the cold days and even colder nights tend to keep us locked up in our homes and offices with heaters blasting. And it seems much easier to read about them in the paper or visit their websites instead.

I was glad I ventured into the city on Tuesday night to attend the opening of a new exhibition by one of MGA’s prominent collection artists, Anne Zahalka. Her exhibition, The way things appear, examines the relationship between art, its spaces and its audiences. Stemming from Zahalka’s interest in tourist sites and the way they are seen by tourists, the photographs in this exhibition depict artworks on the walls of international art galleries and viewers interacting with them.

The way things appear is on at Arc One in Flinders Lane until 24 July.

Stella Loftus-Hills