We want more than just "Chicken or Beef"!

Leigh Youdale said:

The NSW Sate Art Gallery in Sydney has regular exhibitions - the Tracey Moffat one which was a travelling show - and earlier there was a retrospective of Jeff Carter's work which was very well done.
Then we have the Australian Photographic Centre in Paddington which puts on regular exhibitions of current photographic work, and courses courses, and the National Gallery in Canberra which seems to mount a couple of exhibitions each year.
So maybe it is a Sth Aus thing?

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Wasn't the Jeff Carter retrospective at the State Library of NSW? I certainly saw a show very like this there and wanted very much to buy a copy of his superb "Tobacco Road" Unfortunately there seem to be unresolved copyright problems in Carter's works to the extent that the Library was compiling a list of folk wanting prints as some sort of ammunition. Sometimes I feel that the SLNSW does a better job of curating and showing Oz photography than the AGNSW, although a specific and generously spacious photo gallery--unlike the neglected indigenous art space--has been recently commissioned at the AGNSW.

I received a rather abrupt and dismissive reply from the AGNSW curator when questioning the lighting level of the room of the Steiglitz show which was the debut of their photo gallery (comparing perceptible detail under gallery dim lighting and that of prints published in books) I was more or less told to stick to the books and don't question the world of art galleries.

The Australian Photographic Centre has its moments when it gets away from shows featuring trendy Sydneyites photographing trendy Sydneyites (I understand that the nomenclature is "hipsters")

More and more I dunno what art is.

Regards Confused of Springwood.

Hi Ross,
You're right about the Library hosting the Carter exhibition. Interestingly his family run a cafe in Berry (Hedgehogs) where there are quite a few prints of his on the walls and one copy of the book, which they declined to sell to me. They explained their problems with the publishers and I put my name down on their waiting list. If ever they get the rights back they're planning to self-publish it.
I too was underwhelmed by the Steiglitz exhibition - and I agree that the APC does tend towards the nouveaux-trendy. But I did like their "Head On" exhibition last year. But parking around there is a swine.
I was also a bit disappointed in the Annie Leibowitz exhibition at the Contemporary Art Museum. Apart from some rather dramatic and well-known celebrity portraits the rest were largely personal and family images that, for me, held no real attraction, and weren't even up to local camera club work. If she weren't famous for other reasons nobody would notice them.
Nevertheless we do seem to get a number of shows in Sydney or Canberra each year but it sounded like Nicole in Perth (the OP) was being starved of any photographic shows at all.

Leigh Youdale said:

Hi Ross,

Nevertheless we do seem to get a number of shows in Sydney or Canberra each year but it sounded like Nicole in Perth (the OP) was being starved of any photographic shows at all.

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Yep, once you get over them mountains and head out West there ain't no culture. All you hear is a faint sound of banjos...

Sorry, did I kill this discussion off? My comment was meant to be just a light-hearted aside. It wasn't meant in any way to be self-pitying or snide. Please continue!

lesm said:

Sorry, did I kill this discussion off? My comment was meant to be just a light-hearted aside. It wasn't meant in any way to be self-pitying or snide. Please continue!

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I don't believe so. My observation is that the discussion moves along in fits and starts and ruminant cud chewing. Oh hell, now I've probably upset Nicole.

Season's Greetings to all in the paddock, Ross

lesm said:

Yep, once you get over them mountains and head out West there ain't no culture. All you hear is a faint sound of banjos...

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Hey, I resemble that remark....

Artists can be be some of the most self absorbed, selfish planet on the planet. I know, I'm one! Not that I'm like that in other areas, but w/ my own stuff, sure, that's how it is. Years ago a bunch of us attempted to put together a group show, and no one could even agree on the content. I wanted to show anything, while someone else said "Does that mean someone can put up a Dutch landscape? I don't want anything to do w/ something like that". I'm all in favor of that sort of anarchy.

Art appreciation is all well and good, but it's not something everyone has an eye or talent for, so I am not in favor of this "everyone's an artist" business because it just isn't so unless you like banality. Hopefully, someone's art pushes some buttons, makes some people uncomfortable, or gives them some doubts. There's enough pretty sunsets on canvas and photo paper to last a lifetime. Nothing worse than a "nice" bit of art.

As for TV, better to have an old CRT so that you at least have something to set a vase of flowers on. Useful for watching old movies too. Hard to do w/ these flat screens. It's been like this since it's invention.

momus said:

Artists can be be some of the most self absorbed, selfish planet on the planet. I know, I'm one! Not that I'm like that in other areas, but w/ my own stuff, sure, that's how it is. Years ago a bunch of us attempted to put together a group show, and no one could even agree on the content. I wanted to show anything, while someone else said "Does that mean someone can put up a Dutch landscape? I don't want anything to do w/ something like that". I'm all in favor of that sort of anarchy.

Art appreciation is all well and good, but it's not something everyone has an eye or talent for, so I am not in favor of this "everyone's an artist" business because it just isn't so unless you like banality. Hopefully, someone's art pushes some buttons, makes some people uncomfortable, or gives them some doubts. There's enough pretty sunsets on canvas and photo paper to last a lifetime. Nothing worse than a "nice" bit of art.

As for TV, better to have an old CRT so that you at least have something to set a vase of flowers on. Useful for watching old movies too. Hard to do w/ these flat screens. It's been like this since it's invention.

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Not another self styled "artist".