Gitte Weise Gallery is pleased to present two solo exhibitions. The title of Paul Saints latest show, Rat a tat tat, might well suggest a song title, a rhyme, a drum roll, or a barrage of one liners delivered fast and furious by a stand up comic? ROOM 35/Gitte Weise Gallery presents the first solo exhibition of works by the well respected Aboriginal Elder Lola Ryan: for the artist, exhibiting in ROOM 35 is a shift away from the tourist traps to enlarge and encourage a more considered appreciation of the extensive body of her intricate shell work.
Paul Saint
Rat a tat tat
The title of Paul Saints latest show at Gitte Weise Gallery might well
suggest a song title, a rhyme, a drum roll, or a barrage of one liners
delivered fast and furious by a stand up comic?
Rat a tat tat is a series of small scale paintings which conflate popular
images of emblems, flags and symbols with idiosyncratic overload. When an
artist of Saint's calibre sets his sights on illustrating a point the
results are outstanding.
Saint's placement of images against and on top of one another is as
anonymous and ambiguous as a good joke. Moon Boy (after Sidney Nolan)
substitutes woven cloth for Nolans image of a head.
Rat a tat tat also includes Music for Pleasure, a series of five prints, a
rumination of familiar imagery and culture of the Twentieth Century. Music
for Pleasure can only hope to defuse the dialectic of the late night dinner
table repartee.
Saint makes us take notice of the familiar by questioning its validity in
paint, fabric and print. He portrays the perfect misquote, and relishes the
fact that these modestly scaled works are anecdotes to pure painterly
pleasure.
Welcome to an ever-changing world order.
Opening Wednesday 24 October 6 - 8 pm
Exhibition 24 October - 17 November 2001
Tuesday - Saturday 11 - 6pm, or by
appointment.
______________________________
Lola Ryan
maps and bridges
ROOM 35 / Gitte Weise Gallery is pleased to present the first solo
exhibition of works by the well respected Aboriginal Elder Lola Ryan.
Lola is 76 years old, from La Perouse and a practising artist for some 60
years.
She has consistently sculpted iconic symbols of Sydney - the Harbour
Bridge, native wildlife and for the forthcoming exhibition created pre-1788
Australian maps - by way of delicate patterning of shells, lush fabrics and
flashes of glitter.
Beyond the simple souvenir, the works are a vibrant mix of traditional
materials and contemporary totems, which proudly declare her indigenous
heritage and connection to the Sydney area. The idiom is undoubtedly
'Australiana'; the result is delightful.
Lola's family and home have always been important creative partners: she
learned her skills from her mother 'Ma' Page, her sisters Elvie and Mavis
were her collaborators in the early days and her father made the templates
for those signature pieces, such as the Harbour Bridge. She collects her
shells on Sydney beaches and more recently on the South Coast.
From her original outlets of Paddy's Markets and the Royal Easter Show,
Lola's work is now included in the collection of the Powerhouse Museum.
Encouraged by Powerhouse Curator Ann Stephen, she has given public
demonstrations of shell work. Lola has donated a large body of work to La
Perouse Public School and to the Museum of La Perouse. In 2000 she was
named Randwick Council Citizen of the Year.
Since its inception in 1997 ROOM 35 has provided an accessible and
challenging environment to support and extend the contemporary arts community, without
commercial constraints.
For Lola Ryan, exhibiting in ROOM 35 is a shift away from the tourist traps
to enlarge and encourage a more considered appreciation of the extensive
body of her intricate shell work.
Opening Wednesday 24 October 6 - 8 pm
To be opened by Dr. Joan Kerr, art historian at 6.30pm
Exhibition 24 October - 17 November 2001
Tuesday
- Saturday 11 - 6pm, or by
appointment.
For further information please contact Gitte Weise Gallery tel/fax +61 2
9360 2659
Gitte Weise Gallery
56 Sutherland Street Paddington 2021