Gene A’Hern - The Storm that Grew Us - at Cassandra Bird gallery

Opening night at Cassandra Bird art gallery for Gene A’Hern 'The Storm that Grew Us,' A show which was like a trip into a stormy Theosophical marvel. I loved the colours, I loved the mark making, I liked the storm. To my eye it's a tour de force though 20th century art movements that loved colour - seen through the eyes of Gene A’Hern and made new and fresh - because that's what storms do, they blow away the old and the stagnant and replace it with something fresh, something new - though sometimes that does involve a little pain. There are also works with washes of colour threaded with yarn, like large wall rugs, tapestries, or a craft kit on steroids, something that could so easily go horribly wrong but does not. Instead we have craft and art, the colours continuing their spiritual journey with a hint of retro hitching a ride.

I really like the work, and the gallery. Gene was kind enough to allow me to attempt a portrait at the opening. Thank you! I hoped to put some of the vision I saw in the show together with the artist.

The show is on now at 54 Kellet St Potts Point until the 18th of May 2024. https://www.cassandrabird.com/exhibitions/14-gene-a-hern-the-storm-that-grew-us/

Telling Stories in Pictures all over..

Kent Johnson, Sydney, Australia.

0433 796 863

kent@artcommunication.com.au

www.kentjohnsonphotography.com.au

www.fashionphotographysydney.blogspot.com/

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Art Seen August 2018 - Abstraction and More..

Art seen on the art scene, and the fashion too. Sometimes I think some people feel Street Fashion Sydney is not very serious about art but I can assure you I'm very serious about art indeed. And I hope you love what you see here and are inspired to visit the galleries and see the shows, and even buy some art! There has been some great work on show this month, this is of course the tip of the iceberg and I didn't take my camera out of its bag as often as I probably should have. So here we go, let's kick off with Claudia Chan Shaw at Art Atrium - it's photography, very beautiful and nostalgic still life's of collectables that are very much a part of Claudia life. Obscuriosity 8 - 25 August 2018

Claudia Chan Shaw at Art Atrium

Art Student style at Piermarq - painting by Gene A'Hern

At the .M Contemporary 5 Years Anniversary Party

I read somewhere on the internet that it's Abstract Month in Sydney! Is it really, I don't know but there seems to be plenty of Reductionist/Non Objective/Abstract work on show right now.  There is also a Five Years Anniversary show on at .M Contemporary in Woollahra - a terrific show by Paul Snell at Gallery 9 and COMA have done the right thing by having a group show of local Reductionist artists  too! Fabulous abstractions, yes abstractions and with a 80s throwback feel at Piermarq by Gene A'Hern - that's two cool art student guys standing in front of one of them! I also want to give a nod to my friend Geoffrey Goodes who had an excellent mini retrospective of his work in a show titled My Wastrel Life at M2 Gallery; well I think many of us in the arts (and not just us!!!) sometimes wonder what we have done with our lives.. but it looked to me like Geoffrey has been anything but wasting his time. You can check out his Instagram here.

Paul Snell - VANISHING POINT - Gallery 9

Angus Gardner - CLIMBING TREES - Gallery 9

Consuelo Cavaniglia - Rate of Change - COMA GALLERY

Geoffrey Goodes My Wastrel Life at M2 Gallery

Last but not least - thank you to Charles and Christa Billich for having my partner and I along to their Welcome Home party at Billich Gallery - no one does an art party quite like the Billich's. I also heard a rumour while there that there will be a show of new works from their time away in Europe so keep your eyes open for that one. FOMO - Follow on Facebook!
http://artatrium.com.au/
www.piermarq.com.au/
www.gallery9.com.au/
https://mcontemp.com/
http://comagallery.com/
www.billich.com/

Telling Stories in Pictures all over..

Kent Johnson, Sydney, Australia.

0433 796 863

kent@artcommunication.com.au

www.kentjohnsonphotography.com.au

www.fashionphotographysydney.blogspot.com/

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Is it Art? Or is it an Art Handbag Abstraction?

Friday night I popped into Sarah Cottier Gallery in Paddington for the current double header show, John Spiteri in gallery 1 and Huseyin Sami showing in gallery 2. As much as I enjoyed the abstract canvases in gallery 1; it was the thick and colourful slumped-vinyl-paint 'canvases' of Huseyin's works that really caught my eye. Why? Well initially I liked the idea that there were these handbag-like artworks on the wall in rather nice colour schemes (or colorways as they now say in the design/fashion trade (I have so have never liked that term))... And, after I had been introduced to Husyin I asked him if he would mind if I referred to the works as 'Art Handbags', he sort of laughed and smiled. Thank you Husyin for humouring me and thank you for your show 'The art of ending a conversation'. Well I wonder what that's about!  Anyway, I loved the show and our man was charming and there's my portrait below too; it's on now until the 2nd of August.

www.huseyinsami.com/
www.sarahcottiergallery.com/Huseyin_Sami/The_art_of_ending_a_conversation.htm

Kent Johnson

0433 796 863

kent@artcommunication.com.au

www.kentjohnsonphotography.com.au

www.fashionphotographysydney.blogspot.com/

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Street Fashion Sydney - shot with the Fujifilm X-Pro1  

Art & Men's Style at Memetico by Sam Rey.

As I keep saying Street Fashion Sydney is not an art review site blah blah blah but I do love art and so I do get to see quite a bit of it! Of it! And on reading the room notes to Sam's exhibition I discover that he had his own fashion label in Italy and had a "brief stint at The Factory with Andy Warhol" all of which sounds pretty exciting to me and a sure sign that there would be style a-foot at the opening which of course there was, I know this already because I was there and I photographed it, it all, well some of it all starting out with an artist at his opening portrait of Sam Rey himself.

Artist Sam Rey at his 'Memetico' exhibition.

I also reconnected with Robert pictured below whom I have not seen for years! We won't say how many, however Robert purchased the first art work I ever sold and also commissioned me to make a number of mirrors for his Hair Salons back-in-the-day. He told me he had made that lovely bright digital print shirt himself from fabric he had to dig out from the bottom of a pile at Spotlight! What a great shirt, well worth the digging and great to see you again.

Monica and Vivienne on the terrace, Mercure Potts Point.

Sam and Robina with the art work Robina has just purchased.

And I love these tan, hand made Chilean boots with Cuban heels worn by Ben, superb!

Memetico by Sam Rey - Gallery Mercure, Level 2 Mercure Sydney 226 Potts Point. On now!

Kent Johnson
0433 796 863
kent@artcommunication.com.au

www.kentjohnsonphotography.com.au

www.fashionphotographysydney.blogspot.com/

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Street Fashion Sydney - shot with the Fujifilm X-Pro1 

Artists Style & Gallery Friends - SNO 92

I took my first Artist's Portrait-at-SNO back in February 2006; that's almost three years before launching Street Fashion Sydney in late 2008; launched very-much-so I would have a dedicated space for showing my pictures as stories, stories about who & what I saw and experienced around Sydney.

Arpad Forgo, Artist portrait with artwork - Black Bipolar - SNO 92

One of the most surprising things for me as a photographer - having somewhat inadvertently come up with the SNO, Artists (at their opening) Portraits Project is that I have had the opportunity to photograph so many international artists who have come to Sydney to show at SNO. Showing at SNO 92, Arpad is from Hungry, Riki from Holland and Susan our local Sydney artist. So far it has been an amazing journey with SNO including my show of 40 SNO portraits in 2010. My heartfelt thanks to the gallery and the Artists who show there, it has been and continues to be something very special indeed.

Riki Mijling Artist Portrait with IHCW installation - SNO 92

Susan Andrews artist portrait with artwork - Slip - SNO 92

'Gray-scale' - guerilla fashion installation by Anonymous.

http://www.sno.org.au/
http://www.forgoarpad.hu/
http://rikimijling.blogspot.nl/

SNO 92 runs untill the 28th of April 2013.

SNO

LEVEL 1, 175 MARRICKVILLE ROAD
MARRICKVILLE
SYDNEY, NSW 2204
AUSTRALIA
E. info@sno.org.au
W. www.sno.org.au

Open 12:00 – 5:00 pm.

Friday to Sunday

Street Fashion Sydney - shot with the Fujifilm X-Pro1.

SNO 85 - Factory 49 - Abstract Art Baby!

The 85 after SNO stands for the number of shows; SNO being good minimalists don't have names they have numbers for the shows instead. I quite like that as it makes it easy to keep track of how long it is is since the last show I attended, photographed at, and how many I have missed! Not many lately. And although Factory 49 also shows work in a similar style and some of the same artists; the 49 is the street number of the gallery space and always stays the same - though this could become confusing if they decide to move and keep the same name - mind you King Street Gallery seem to have been able to work around that little problem quite well for more than a few years..

First up is the SNO show; I had been wanting to make a portrait of Suzie Idiens for a while now and this time I managed to get one of Suzie in front of her artwork 'Blue Slot 2012', (MDF, polyurethane, 60 x 54 x 6.5).  I was thinking that having made Suzie's portrait I had photographed the only exhibiting artist in attendance at SNO 85; not so. I had been talking with sound artist Gary Bradbury; who incidentally had performed live at my own show at SNO two years earlier - I knew he had the sound piece running in the front gallery space but it just didn't click, no pun intended that I should photograph him too. So this is what happens when you get a little too fixed in your ways; you think visual-art artist-portrait a little too often and you forget that the sound artist who is making art you cannot see is standing right there talking to you and can also be documented at the shows opening. My apologies to you Gary, this will not happen again; and by way of trying to make up for my omission I did make an 'autograph portrait' of the freehand ballpoint pen description of 'Mouth Tracks' which I very much suspect was jotted onto the wall by Gary himself;  pictured below, I quite like it.

Dutch artist  Henriëtte van 't Hoog 's coloured , light-reflecting back-to-the-wall 'Cubes' were/are absolutely fascinating and had me thinking of some great ideas for my fashion photography. Well yes I do draw some of my inspiration from looking at art, of course! And then there was a mild pang of jealousy but far more admiration for Karen Schifano's - 'I'll take you there', I do love a good road line. I wish I had thought of adding my own to the ones that are already there. What a great way to draw, the possibilities truly are endless.

SNO 85

Factory 49 Annual Group Show 2012

And so onto the Fab group show at Factory 49 which included the installation piece 'barely breathing, 2012' by Caroline Phillips whom I also managed to photograph for my collection of Artists at their openings. Thank you Caroline; love your installation piece and I love the pink and mauve. As group shows go, there are far too many artists to single any out - you just must go and see for yourself. Both galleries being quite close to one another in Marrickville should make it an easy trip to see both SNO and Factory 49 in the one afternoon..

Thanks to everyone at SNO & Factory 49 for another two beautiful art shows.
http://www.sno.org.au/
SNO on Facebook

http://factory49.blogspot.com.au/
Factory 49 on Facebook