10 regional shows to see this summer
From an intriguing exhibition on baroque masters to a show ostensibly all about dogs, here’s our curated list of regional offerings to see throughout the country this summer.
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In her latest solo exhibition, photographer Robyn Stacey uses the ancient technology of the camera obscura (Latin for ‘dark room’) to create surreal, topsy-turvy images in which gardens seem to dangle from bedroom ceilings and clouds appear to race across carpets.
“It is this in-between space that I find so fascinating: you are in the world but removed from it at the same time. You can see everything that is happening outside the window, but it’s like being in your own private movie.”
Stacey’s multilayered, colour-saturated images are created without digital manipulation. They capture what she calls a “temporary liminal space, a visual mash-up of ‘out’ and ‘in’ side”. This haunting collision of exterior and interior is fleeting, since each camera obscura is dependent on the angle of the sun and only lasts for a few hours.
Stacey first began using a camera obscura to record the transitional space of hotel rooms. Then in her Cloud Land series, some of which will be on show at Stills, she concentrated on the city of Brisbane. In her most recent photographs, she focuses on spaces inhabited by artists.
Stacey explains the allure of these interiors, saying, “We seek to be moved by the artist’s space, as if by walking through the studio we will suddenly be struck with inspiration. Or perhaps by gazing at the space we will start to make sense of the artist’s persona. The myth of the artist becomes absorbed into the fabric of the building, making them very potent spaces.”
Robyn Stacey
Stills Gallery
6 October – 5 November
From an intriguing exhibition on baroque masters to a show ostensibly all about dogs, here’s our curated list of regional offerings to see throughout the country this summer.
Horror is where the marginalised can see themselves—as a horror-themed exhibition at the Australian Centre for Contemporary Art reveals.
Sneakers are a cultural phenomenon made up of paradoxes. Some see them as an accessible and inclusive force in fashion that serve as an outlet of self-expression for many; yet to others they are a symbol of out-of-control consumerism. Two Queensland exhibitions are embracing these dualities, though from contrasting angles: Sneakers Unboxed: Studio to Street at HOTA on the Gold Coast, and Torsion at Brisbane’s Metro Arts.
The grassroots women’s art collective Womanifesto, which formed in Thailand in 1995, did not shut down with the rest of the world in 2020. Instead, it adapted, and now the works made by the Sydney contingent during that time are showing at 4A Centre for Contemporary Asian Art.
As representations of contemporary life, especially the domestic and intimate, continue to be meaningful, the still life genre endures—as 16 women artists attest in a new show at Bett Gallery.
Lisa Gorman has always looked to art as inspiration. The Gorman founder and former creative director is starting a new chapter as a multidisciplinary artist, and Warrnambool Art Gallery is exhibiting her new works alongside the art of Mirka Mora.
