Exhibitions feature a vivid presence
PAINTINGS that are travelogues interpreting another’s memory are combined and entwined with nimble yet emphatic imprints and inscriptions of line and letter that unite order and chaos to create dynamic statements of place.
While compositions of a different nature adopt the graphics of street art mixed with takes on popular culture set in the precise format of the skateboard deck.
Both local exhibitions have an exciting and vivid presence and an almost kinetic energy.
The Alexandra Lawson Gallery pop up space in Railway St, (info@alexandralawsongallery.com), is presenting Bodega: A Fun Place a collaborative exhibition by Ian McCallum and David Usher.
This body of paintings has grown from McCallum’s responses to the domesticity of the ‘corner shop’ grocery stores or bodegas seen in Los Angeles and San Francisco set against the vision of the soaring grandeur of the Sierra Nevada range and specifically, Yosemite National Park.
McCallum is also something of an inspirational raconteur, because, in relating his experiences to fellow artist, Usher, he transferred his enthusiasm as well as his awe in the face of nature.
From towering sequoia trees and granite cliff faces to the walls of suburbia with their texts and messages, McCallum’s vision has been embraced by Usher whose own landscape paintings have always been more about interpreting feeling than documenting a view.
Usher’s trees and canyons become gestures of place overlaid by McCallum’s text and single letters that are symbols of the intervention of humanity and commerce on the raw canvas of nature.
This exhibition epitomises the positive vitality and energy possible between collaborative artists whose imaginations are fired in a creative reciprocity underpinned by mutual respect.
No Comply Gallery, at Kontraband Studios, 6 Laurel St, is hosting Fastplant, the annual exhibition of painted and decorated skateboard decks. It has attracted over 130 entries by local, national, and international artists.
Portraits, animal studies, text, and cinematic imagery mix it with meme mutations, a clever ‘fire extinguisher’, a stubby pencil, and Barbie dolls.
The skateboard format is the starting point for interpretive and individual statements that celebrate icons of art history, make ironic comments on political posturing, as well as exploring fine art genres such as geometrical abstraction and landscape.
The “canvas” of the skate board deck undergoes transformations that include a translation into ceramics, a work in leadlight glass, a tiger with flashing lights, and humorous three dimensional extravagances such as Stephen Spurrier’s A Brief History of the Skateboard Coiffure.
This exciting and appealing show crosses generations in both participants and audience and is another ingenious initiative of the First Coat team, Ian McCallum and Grace Dewar, who have placed Toowoomba out there as a key venue for street art, public art, and exhibitions that engage the community.