Wednesday, September 4, 2013

Sydney Moderns

What: Sydney Moderns art exhibition.
Tag line: "art for a new world".
Where: Art Gallery of NSW.
When: until 7 October 2013.

Synopsis: a thorough retrospect of modern Australian art capturing the simultaneous growth of Sydney as a major city during industrialisation and the artists it housed as they experimented with new techniques.

Personal Highlights: modern art is my weakness, Picasso and Monet being my two favourite artists. Therefore I was surprised to discover a range of Australian artists I never knew before whose work also captivated me. These include but are not limited to Frank Hinder, Grace Cossington Smith, Olive Cotton, Roy De Maistre and Margaret Preston. They vividly captured what it was like to live in Sydney during the 1920s and 1930s.

Normally I find Australian art depicting the landscape and country scenery  isolating and depressing. It's because they distinctly tap into that sinking feeling I had the moment I stepped foot off the plane in Adelaide when we moved back from Greece, as a child. What I also found surprising  in this exhibition with the (few) landscapes depicted, was the beauty, subtleness and magic captured in the colour; the beautiful rhythmic harshness, contrast and harmony of it all which I have now grown accustomed to love and recognise as exclusively Australian.

Link to more info:
http://www.artgallery.nsw.gov.au/exhibitions/sydney-moderns/

Bonus: with this gorgeous Sydney spring weather you could make the most of your visit to the exhibition by also enjoying a walk in The Domain, Art Gallery Road or Mrs Macquarie's Chair.


No comments:

Post a Comment