Opening: Victor Rubin 2010

The Sun-Herald: Victor Rubin

Victor Rubin: Finalist in the 2010 Archibald Art Prize

Congratulations Victor Rubin

Finalist in the 2010 Archibald Art Prize

Art Gallery of NSW Artist Talk
at Eva Breuer Art Dealer

Tonight at 6PM

In conjunction with AGNSW Contempo, please join us for drinks with Victor Rubin this Thursday 6pm-8pm at Eva Breuer Art Dealer on the eve of the announcement of this year's Archibald Prize. Victor will discuss his Archibald portrait of John Olsen. All are welcome.

Staff Picks - Gallery Associate Megan Fizell

Clifton Pugh (1924 - 1990)
Hand & Orchid
Etching 25/75
22 x 15cm (image size)
33 x 25cm (paper size)
no.11067

Born in 1924 in Richmond, Victoria, Clifton Pugh made a name for himself for his portraiture and landscape paintings, after serving in the Australian Imperial Forces in New Guinea in his early years. Pugh attended the National Gallery of Victoria Art School from 1947 to 1949, and then spent much of his life in his bush property 'Dunmoochin' outside of Melbourne. Greatly inspired by the natural environment, Pugh was joined in his love of the land by other artists, who together with him became the Dunmoochin Artists Society in 1953. In the year before his death in 1990, Pugh set up the Dunmoochin Foundation to preserve the bushland and enable other artists to use the studios in future.

Brett Whiteley (1939-1992)
The Luxembourg Gardens (glimpse) (detail)
Pen and Ink on Paper
55.5 x 75 cm
Initialed 'BW' lower right
Illustrated: Brett Whiteley: Paris Regarde de Côté, Australian Galleries, 1990, Plate 41.
Provenance: Australian Galleries
Private collection Melbourne since 1992
no.11042

The Luxembourg Gardens (glimpse) is part of a series of works on paper which Whiteley produced in Paris between June and July of 1989. Whiteley had rented an apartment on the Rue de Tournon and produced one work a day for 60 days. These are regarde de cote (sidelong glances), which Whiteley saw as the answer to creating images of the city which were not cliché. "millions of pictures have been painted – how to find a new vision is the challenge. What one is after is a high-octane visual poetic journalism, brief, essential and above all fresh. This can best be achieved by drawing, and not the heavy métier of oil paint." Offered for the first time since it was acquired from the Paris Regarde de Coté exhibition this is a superb example of Whiteley's masterful draughtsmanship.

Reference: Brett Whiteley's introduction to: Brett Whiteley: Paris Regarde De Côté, Australian Galleries, 1990.

Adriane Strampp (b.1960)
Stags 2009
Oil on linen
101.5 x 101.5 cm
no.10650

Strampp’s new work takes another look at the horse and the landscape, in a quieter and more contemplative manner, together with the use of a limited palette. Her work continues to explore the intangible and evocative, that communicates before it is understood, and the importance of and relationship between scale, surface and the poetic image through a method of layering and reduction that reflects the experience of connection, through history on either a personal or broader level. Subject and shadow are indeterminate, and the viewer is drawn into the work to decide between what is ‘real’ and what is not. More importantly, it is hoped that the viewer will experience a connection of experience through the work. This new body of work will be exhibited later in the year as part of her Master’s degree submission.

Christopher Beaumont (b.1961)
Still Life with Quince, Artichoke and Ivy 2006
Oil on linen
76 x 84cm

The space in these works is a virtual or abstract space while the rendering of objects wholly representational. I had a great interest in astronomy as a child. The heavens are an abstract emptiness with objects moving on principles of geometry. The world of atoms & molecules are often pictured as coloured spheres in this same black space. Atoms and molecules don’t actually look like this at all but this helps us to understand them conceptually. It is the same space of 3D computer modelling. I have grown up in a time when these images are commonplace and this is definitely an influence on the way I conceive of paintings. -Christopher Beaumont, 2007

Kerry Lester
Aridne auf Naxos
Woodcut print 42/60
76.5 x 56.5cm
Commissioned by the Australian Opera for its
Australian Opera's 40th Anniversity Print Portfolio
(to be sold individually)
no.7733

Geoffrey Proud (b. 1946)
Near the Orchard – a Study in Black 2008
oil on canvas
89 x 120cm
no.9843

Often quirky and verging on the surreal, Geoffrey Proud's paintings in oil and pastel are like fractured fairytales. Depicting a world of innocence with a sometimes ominous edge, Proud's paintings are fantastic and bizarre. His choice of subjects is broad, including children and childhood narratives, flowers, still lifes and nudes. Alternating between expressionist impastoed brushwork and sensitive detail, he experiments freely with vibrant colour and varying textures. The highly glazed surfaces of his recent oils give his scenes an ethereal and otherworldly quality. Proud has won numerous awards including the Sulman Prize in 1976 for a painting on perspex, and the Archibald prize in 1990 for his portrait of writer Dorothy Hewett. He has exhibited consistently in all state capitals since 1966 and is represented in the National Gallery of Australia, Canberra; many State and regional gallery collections; Parliament House collections in Canberra and Sydney; Artbank; IBM collection; and the Elton John collection, London.

Tomasz Talaj (b. 1964)
Epic Flight 2007
Oil on plywood
10.5 x 15.3cm
no. 9432

Sarah Edmondson
Untitled (Lemons on a Pink Plate) 2003
Oil on canvas
30 x 30cm
Signed 'sarah edmondson '03' lower right
no.8091

Stephen Nothling (b.1962)
Swimming Bird II
Oil on canvas
10 x 10 cm

Known for his paintings of paradise–evoking roses, this exhibition of paradise landscapes was born out of Nothling’s monumental 2008 self portrait entitled Self Portrait out the front, exhibited in the Salon de Refusés last year. The work was in homage to Nothling’s own paradise – his home on the outskirts of Brisbane – and from it emerged this larger series loosely based on local Brisbane landscapes.

Immersed within the idea of paradise and perfection, Nothling created the fictional, ‘Nowhereland,’ an imaginary destination which acts as a backdrop for his pictorial theatrics. In Nowhereland Nothling’s parachuted navigator, (perhaps the pilot from the biplane in Joyflight) descends gently to the middle of nowhere.

Victor Rubin (b.1950)
Still Life II, Jan 1975
oil on masonite
15.2 x 20.3 cm
Signed and dated lower right 'Jan 75 VR.'
no.10731

Painted when Rubin was in his early to late 20’s the boards have been archived in Victor’s studio since they were painted. The period covers 1974-1976 with the majority of paintings from 1974-75 when he was living in Raine Street Bondi Junction in Sydney. This period of his work follows on from his involvement with the famous Yellow House in Macleay Street, Potts Point where he exhibited in 1971 at which point the Yellow House attracted the most cutting edge contemporary artists of the time including Brett Whiteley and others. The period is also marked by a strong influence from John Olsen who was Rubin’s teacher at the Bakery Art School and who remains a close friend.

Staff Picks - Gallery Administrator Ciara Derkenne

Victor Rubin (b.1950)
Physcoreal Head II
acrylic on canvas on board
19 x 23.5cm
no. 11158

Victor Rubin is represented in all major public collections in Australia including the National Gallery of Australia, National Gallery of Victoria, the Art Gallery of New South Wales and the Queensland Art Gallery. His work has been collected by some of the most important private and corporate collections of Australian art including the Patrick White collection and the ICI collection.

Arthur Boyd (1920-1999)
Portrait of Alannah Coleman III c.1971
Oil on canvas
76 x 63 cm
no.3168

Arthur Boyd’s paintings of art world personalities such as this portrait of the art dealer Alannah Coleman, are masterfully executed expressions of the sitter. Boyd translates the nuances of his subject in vigorous strokes of yellow, blue and red, which animate the painterly surface.

Ena Joyce (b.1926)
London Child With Perambulator 1949
Oil on wood
36 x 48.5cm
no.7299

Whilst in London after winning the 1946 NSW Travelling Art Scholarship Ena Joyce painted some of her most highly regarded paintings. London Child with Perambulator 1949 is an evocative work executed with great economy and brisk brush work.

"The small girl stands by the Thames with a mud island behind her. This was at Chiswick Reach, painted several times by Victor Passmore." Ena Joyce

Ena Joyce is represented in the National Gallery of Australia, most state galleries, many regional galleries as well as many other public collections throughout Australia including the Parliament House collection. She has won numerous coveted awards including the 1977 Portia Geach Memorila Prize.

Brenda Humble (b.1933)
Bogan Man 1996
Mild steel 1/4
50 x 18 x 9cm
Signed 'Humble 96', editioned and titled on base
no.9190

Humble's body of jewel-like still life's, abstracted in varying degrees are painterly, boldly colourful and beautifully simple. Her continuing motif; the silhouette of vase and flowers against an open window, is distinct and distilled to essential elements and colour blocks. Her palette is high keyed like Mattisse and in some of the still lives, the flatness and bold outline of shapes is somewhat reminiscent of Picasso. Her sculptures share a similar simplification of form; Humble pares back the image to its most elemental lines, creating crisp linea images of quirky teachers, laughing horses, squinting love hearts and little Alice figures.

Jamie Boyd (b.1948)
Sonata
Lithograph 44/275
74 x 102cm
no.0516

Jamie Boyd continues the tradition of the great Boyd family who have collectively made a profound contribution to Australian art though he has established a firm reputation as a painter in his own right. Jamie currently lives in London though he regularly returns to Australia and visits the Boyd property at Shoalhaven where he is reunited with the surrounding landscape and it’s beauty and strength. His works reflects this broad international sensibility and the enduring influence of the Australian landscape. A proficient painter, he has achieved success through many solo and group exhibitions both in Australia and Europe.

James Gleeson (1915-2008)
The Activist 1976
Mixed media on paper
26.7 x 23.9cm
no.2352

James Gleeson was Australia's best known and most important Surrealist. He had been painting and exhibiting consistently from the 1930s until 2008. He played a significant role in the Australian art scene, not only as a painter and poet, but as a critic, writer and curator. Gleeson combined skillful draughtsmanship with a great facility in handling paint. Delving into the subconscious, Gleeson used literary, mythological or religious subject matter to allow the viewer glimpses of extraordinary beauty. Regardless of their scale, the resulting paintings convey a sumptuous monumentality.

Mark Howson (b.1961)
Untitled (Abstract) 1985
Oil on paper
77 x 52.4cm
no.6564

In 1982 Mark Howson was one of the founding members of Roar Studios. Together with about twenty young artists, among whom included David Larwill, Mark Schaller, Wayne Eager and Mike Nicholls, Howson started an artist run gallery in Fitzroy, Melbourne – the purpose of which was to challenge the art establishment. Characterised by strong, expressionistic figurative works, ironically, the Roar artists quickly became noticed by the mainstream art world. Howson’s work is represented in the Australian National Gallery, Canberra; National Gallery of Victoria; New Parliament House, Canberra; Art Bank; numerous Regional and University collections and private collections in Australia, Europe and the USA.

Zai Kuang (b.1962)
Girl 21, 2008
Oil on canvas
30 x 30cm
no.10047

Most of my paintings are about children, toys and their surroundings. The reason I choose children as my subject is that: simplicity, purity and harmony, they are my attentions during the process of making painting. I think children match the thought perfectly.

I paint children in the interior and exterior. In the interior, I want to explore the relationships between children and toys. The space often dominates the works, there is a tranquil atmosphere around the children, the toys and the room. In the exterior, I look for the relationships between children and the environment, usually the space is more open. - Zai Kuang 2009

Sir Sidney Nolan (1917-1992)
Halycon
oil on canvas on board
30 x 37 cm
signed lower right
no.9720

“This enchanting work dating from Nolan's early career in the Melbourne suburb of St Kilda makes reference, through its title Halcyon, to an ancient Greek myth associated with the kingfisher, depicted here at rest on its floating nest. According to legend the father of the young Halcyon ordered the winds to stay calm during the brooding period so that the floating nest of the kingfisher would not be disturbed. Hence the term "halcyon days".

For Sidney Nolan his early days in St Kilda might indeed be called halcyon. During the mid 1940s the artist painted an extensive body of works recording life around Luna Park and at the St Kilda sea baths, including reminiscences from his childhood. In addition Nolan also painted numerous images relating to the Greek myth of Icarus, transposed into the environs of St Kilda.
Halcyon‚ was a work of particular personal attachment for Nolan, to the extent that he loaned the painting with the Art Gallery of New South Wales for an extended number of years. Nolan was especially attached to his early work as it provided him with immense stimulus for later projects. As Halcyon‚ is depiction of two of his favourite subjects birds and mythology, it is understandable why this painting was so treasured by the artist.”

Text by curator and art writer: Damian Smith

Stan Rapotec (1913-1997)
Untitled, 1960
Oil on board
75 x 100cm
no.5876

Stanislaus Rapotec was one of the leading exponents of Abstract Expressionism in Australia. He is represented in the Australian National Gallery, all state galleries, many regional galleries as well as many other important public collections both in Australia and overseas including the Australian Embassy, Paris, Vatican Gallery of Modern Religious Art, Musée d'Art Moderne, Paris. Rapotec has been the recipient of many awards including the 1961 Blake Prize.

In Untitled 1960 the bold and energetic brushstrokes swirl and explode across the board, masterfully capturing the artists physical and emotional gestures.

Press: Victor Rubin - Sydney Morning Herald

Collection: Large Paintings

All canvases over 100cm. Artists include: Sidney Nolan, John Coburn, John Perceval, Ann Thomson, Patrick Hockey, Zhong Chen, Brian Dunlop, Wayne Eager, Stephen Nothling, Adriane Strampp, Geoffrey Proud, Carl Plate, Tony Irving, Victor Rubin, Tim Storrier, Andrew Browne, Alun Leach-Jones, Zai Kuang, and Eunice Napanangka Jack.