Dean Manning, Templo San Lazaro

Dean Manning is currently exhibiting a suite of paintings, sculpture and video animation in the main space, each of which suggests a compelling narrative. "Midgets and Giants" offers evocative images full of whimsy and humour.
Here Dean tells the story of one of these works, Templo San Lazaro.

Templo San Lazaro, oil on wood, 680mm x 760mm, 2011.

I rented a warehouse in Bushwick, Brooklyn, NY for a few months. The neighbourhood is Hispanic & Mexican, On one of my daily walks I came across an old shop front cluttered with religious icons, amulets, potions, candles and white doves in cages.

Three men sat in the room watching an old movie on a small black & white t.v. That’s where I met Mr Carlos. He didn’t speak much English so his friend Rudy translated for us.

Mr Carlos came from Costa Rica 40 years ago. He is a healer and church leader and St Lazarus is his patron saint. He had a church in midtown Manhattan for 30 years with hundreds of followers but rising costs brought him to Bushwick. Mr Carlos led me to the back of the store to his church. It was a long skinny room with chairs lining the walls leading down to an altar with a life size statue of St Lazarus. From the ceiling hung a blue & cream satin banner that read ‘Paz Y Justicia Fe Esperanza Caridad’ (Peace & Justice, Hope, Faith & Charity). Mr Carlos’ church drew influences from all religions. Christianity, Buddhism, Voodooism, Native American. On the shelves packed with figurines, Jesus, Mary and an array of saints mixed it with Buddhas & cigarette smoking African effigies, Santa Clauses and Wild West Indians. Mr Carlos invited me to Sunday service that weekend. I was asked to bring a gift as it was a special day, St Lazarus’ birthday.

I coerced a couple of friends to join me and after a breakfast of huevos rancheros we set off. There were a dozen people there already and we took a seat. Everyone was chatting, laughing. We could have been on a bus heading for a holiday. A lady opposite spoke English and offered to explain the proceedings to us. Down at the altar, St Lazarus wore a happy birthday party hat. Around his neck hung a dozen strands of beads and garlands of flowers. I placed my gift, a quart of rum, in a basket overflowing with flowers, fruit, cigars, candles, copious other bottles and cash. Mr Carlos’ daughter, a young dark haired beauty in a tight black t-shirt sequinned ‘Chanel’ walked around the room giving each of us a strand of blue & yellow beads to wear.

When the room was nearly full the first stage of the service began. We formed an informal queue. Mr Carlos sat on a purple velvet throne next to the altar. Each person knelt before him. He threw a yellow shawl over us and murmured (or sung). This was said to cleanse us and clear the air. For the last throw of shawl, we were motioned to stand. Mr Carlos stood too, though somewhat painfully. (I learnt later he had a wooden leg). He then theatrically whipped away the shawl for the last time. Some people at this point flew into an ecstatic dance, eyes rolling. Assistants stood by to catch you if you fell which happened a few times.

We returned to our seats. I could hear the doves cooing in their cages as Mr Carlos’ wife walked around offering beer, shots of rum & soft drinks.

For the next part of the service we again filed before Mr Carlos who slowly moved a candle over each of us to ‘see’ inside and identify any aliments. These were relayed to us by his assistants. My friend Sarah was told she had a bad spirit lurking and needed to come back next week for further cleansing. I got a clean bill of health.

On the altar, wrapped in clear cellophane was a plaster sculpture of a native American scene of Indians and horses. This was this weeks’ prize in the raffle. They sold lottery tickets at 3 for a dollar.

In the final part of the ceremony we all selected a coconut from the sack ($2). One by one, Mr Carlos rubbed our coconut over us, back & front. The coconut was said to absorb all the bad energy. On our way home, we were instructed to find a ‘crossroad’ (an intersection in the city would do). It had to be a crossroad we wouldn’t be using that week. There we had to smash our coconut making an affirmation.

It was snowing outside. People lingered with their coconuts. The music was turned up and people began to dance. More drinks were served and a feast was laid out.

Dean Manning, "Midgets and Giants", 3 - 19 March 2011.

As part of Art Month Sydney.

Read their post on the Art Month blog.

Read Ian Shadwell's review of the exhibition on The Art Life.

HAPPY YEAR OF THE RABBIT

Gallery artists Peter Gardiner and China de la Vega exhibit new work based on their experience in China, 2010. We also welcome onboard for this exhibition fellow artists Guy Maestri (courtesy Tim Olsen Gallery), Phil James, Frances Belle Parker and photography by the coordinator, Catherine Croll.

Hard Sleeper, 7+/-1 Australian Artists in China was a wonderfully eclectic exhibition produced as the culmination of a two-month immersion into Chinese art and culture undertaken by 7 Australian Indigenous and Emerging artists as apart of Imagine Australia – the Year of Australian Culture in China.

Led by “China Facilitator” Catherine Croll, the group including: Fiona Foley, Guy Maestri, Frances Belle Parker, Peter Gardiner, Phil James, China De la Vega and Zhou Xiaoping began their adventure by travelling via local transport (hard sleeper) to some of China’s most interesting provincial cities and historic sites including: Pingyao, Xian, Hua Shan, Chengdu, Chongqing, Dazu Grottoes, the Yangtze River, Wuhan and Shanghai (read more at www.CatherineCroll.com).

During their tour they met with local contemporary artists, participated in forums, engaged in public and private debates, toured artist’s studios and arts districts, conducted classes for hundreds of primary school children in earthquake ravaged Sichuan and served as VIP guests at the Australian Pavilion at the Shanghai Expo.

This was followed by a month of frenzied activity during their Red Gate Gallery studio
residency where the artists produced an extraordinary range of artwork.


'Hard Sleeper' will be at the Damien Minton Gallery from Tuesday 15 February to Saturday 26 February, 2011.

DALLAS BRAY WINS THE KILGOUR ART PRIZE

Congratulations to Dallas Bray for winning the 2010 Kilgour Art Prize for the 2nd time in as many years.

The biennale acquisitive painting prize is financed by the JN Kilgour bequest. The Prize encourages innovative figurative painting by Australian artists and awards $50,000 for the most outstanding work of art, as judged by a selection panel.

The judges this year were Ron Ramsay, director of the Newcastle Region Art Gallery, Ann Lewis AO, art patron and Daniel McOwen, director of the Hamilton Art Gallery, Victoria.

The painting will be on display at the Newcastle Region Art Gallery until 16 January, 2011.

Dallas Bray, Going to Town, 2010

ROSS LAURIE WINS THE KING'S SCHOOL 2010 ART PRIZE

We are delighted to announce Ross Laurie was awarded the $15,000 Acquisitive King's School Art Prize, which was judged by Glenn Barkley, Curator at the MCA, Sydney.

Some of the other invited finalists included Idris Murphy, John R. Walker, Brett McMahon and indigenous artists Eileen Napaltjarri and Gladdy Kenmarre.

The art prize was established in 1994, and previous winners include Aida Tomescu, John Olsen, Nicholas Harding, Ben Quilty and Gloria Petyarre.

When announcing the award last night, Glenn Barkley quoted from the late great Nick Waterlow OAM:

'There is something magical at the core of Ross Laurie’s art. That his work relates intimately to the landscape around Walcha, indeed is inspired by it, we know. Yet it is the language he has developed to express a special place that elicits a unique understanding of this natural order in all its guises.

'His art hovers between the visible world and the unseen rhythms of a land that only deep acquaintance and affection can capture. The strength and vibrancy of his use and choice of colour, and his creation of the contours and complex interweaving of undulating terrain, with the presence of tree, shrub and other forms, punctuate the picture plane to produce dynamic, earthily constructed and felicitously choreographed images that I believe are of lasting significance.'

Ross will be exhibiting a new series of work at the Damien Minton Gallery, commencing Wednesday 20th October, 2010.

Ram's Gully - Butt Up
Oil on canvas
1370mm x 1520mm

TOM CARMENT WINS ALAN GAMBLE AWARD

We congratulate Tom Carment on yet again being amongst the prizewinners of the Mosman Art Prize.

This is what Kon Gouriotis, Director, Visual Arts, Australia Council for the Arts, said about the painting
'Container Wharf, Port Botany':

"The Allan Gamble Memorial Prize is awarded annually to a painting focussing on the built environment. This year, it goes to Tom Carment for his work Container Wharf, Port Botany. This work is imbued with an acute sense of observation. The artist’s keen examination of the port, expressed by its slight movements, is a process I wanted to celebrate by selecting Carment’s work. The three different moments (recorded in presence at the site and at a distance) have a deep consideration of a particular focal point, and the work is beautifully crafted."

The painting is part of the latest of Tom's plein air series, which we featured in this year's Melbourne Art Fair.

This is what Tom has to say about his journies to Port Botany:

"The container terminal at Botany Bay feels like the busiest place in Sydney, the working heart of the city and I have been painting there since late last year. Queues of waiting semi-trailers peel out its gates. It’s noisy too: engine sounds, warning beeps and sirens, the nearby planes taking off and landing.
Being a plein air painter I look for the best places to sit and paint which aren’t in anyone’s way. I began working from the edges of the Eastern Suburbs Cemetery from where I could see all the cranes against the light. Then, after scouting out possible sites on my bicycle (I cycle to Botany Bay every Saturday morning), I started painting the wharf from the north, sitting in the bushes at the edge of busy Foreshore Drive. From here I could see the brightly coloured structures in full light, almost like science-fiction fighting machines, striding the bay. I worked on horizontal panels, about thirty of which I’d cut and primed from old timber collected at the Bower in Marrickville. In the studio I arranged them into groups that sat well together. Foreshore Drive is a ‘no stopping’ zone so I’d leave my car in Joseph Banks Park and lug my gear half a mile round the edge of the golf course to get there, past what looked like aboriginal middens under the windblown trees. The Port is a ‘still life’ in flux, the elements remain the same but move about; not only do the skies and tides change, but also the giant red and yellow cranes, which shunt up and down their tracks into different positions each day and rearrange the stacked walls of containers. The deckhouses and smokestacks of visiting ships move on every couple of days. This changing of the ‘still life’ meant I had to complete each picture in one sitting of about two hours. Added to this sense of urgency was the fact that the area where I sat had been newly landscaped with woodchips and fresh plantings, interlaced with a black-piped watering system and week by week the greenery grew higher, eventually blocking the view. The industrial strength sprinklers would go off at random times, soaking me, so I carried a plastic bag and gaffer tape and would rush to smother them when they went off, allowing me to continue my work. I found a lot of stray golf balls on the walks in and out of my painting place and one day presented them to a somewhat shocked golfer preparing to tee off.
One night I heard on the news that a maritime worker had been killed at Port Botany, crushed by a container. I’d been sitting there that day worrying about getting my colours in the right place, unaware of the tragic event that was taking place across the water."

Damien Minton Gallery at Melbourne Art Fair

Damien Minton Gallery is exhibiting at Melbourne Art Fair 2010. We invite you to come visit us at Stand A50 Upstairs, where we are pleased to present new work by Ross Laurie, Peter Gardiner and Tom Carment. 

We will also be showing selected sculptural works by artists Michael Callaghan, Myfanwy Gullifer, China De La Vega, Martin Sharp, Luke Temby (CUPCO) and Tony Twigg. 

Melbourne Art Fair 

Royal Exhibition Building 

5-8 August 2010

Image: Ross Laurie, Tree and Shadow - Ram's Gully, 2010. Oil on canvas, 2200mm x 4000mm (diptych). 

NICK WATERLOW ON CARL PLATE

From "Curating the COFA Collection", 2009

Carl Plate (1909-1977) was born in Perth, to a German father and English born mother, moving to Sydney in 1913. He studied under Raynor Hoff and Fred Leist at East Sydney Technical College, and his sister Margo Lewers was also an artist to achieve prominence. In 1935 he travelled to Europe via Cuba, Mexico and USA. In London he mixed with many influential artists and writers including Henry Moore, TS Eliot and Herbert Read. Whilst in France in 1940 he was detained as a suspected German spy; on release he reached England from where he returned to Sydney. There he set up the Notanda Gallery in Rowe Street and exhibited many of the foremost European and Australian artists of the time, as well as promoting the literature of modernism, until the Gallery's close in 1974. Plate, an active member of the Contemporary Art Society, lived in the hills behind the Woronora River outside Sydney.

In London he saw the 1936 International Surrealist Exhibition which changed his view of the world. "Life itself is surreal. Its essential quality has always appealed. Not as a style but an attitude"(1). It is primarily in his collages , shown at Hazelhurst Regional Gallery in 2009, that this is revealed. His better known painting practice, from the 1930s to the 1970s, was largely forged in abstraction with at times vestiges of cubism and abstract expressionism. "Each picture is a fresh exploration of form, not of a repetitious formula," wrote Daniel Thomas in 1963 (2). And much later, in 2009, ADS Donaldson expressed his admiration: "Carl Plate was one of Australia's most distinguished and accomplished mid-century artists. The galleries he showed in, the exhibitions he was part of, and the artists he he was hung beside were the bright lights of their day"(3).

'Dark forms light segments', 1964, is a substantial and imposing painting, a generous gift of the late James Agapitos and Ray Wilson, that exemplifies Plate's oeuvre. Fissured shapes abound, amidst the disarming presence of imagined and shifting tectonic plates, as if seen from above. The landscape and its myriad appearances certainly inform this vision but the unique abstract language he developed combined a European awareness and sensibility with an acute understandingof the psyche of the place he lived. His work was quite unlike any other artist in Australia of his generation, as difficult as that of Clyfford Still and similar in its relationship to the art prevailing. The recent revelation of his collages and their pioneering of the vertical slice foreshadowed Daniel Crooks' videos, maintaining Plate's relevance today.

1. Carl Plate, interview with Richard Haese, 29 June 1974, State Library of Victoria.
2. Daniel Thomas, Sunday Telegraph, Sydney,17.11.63, unpaginated.
3. ADS Donaldson, Carl Plate, Collage 1938-1976, Hazelhurst Regional Gallery, 2009, p63.

Reproduced with the permission of the USW College of Fine Arts.
'Curating the COFA Collection' at Ivan Dougherty Gallery, 2009, by Nick Waterlow.

Sea Snow/PMC No. 35, 1975
Magazine paper collage on paper
215mm x 263mm

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