GRANTPIRRIE continues artist's winning spree

Image: http://www.thearchibaldprize.com.au/finalists/archibald

Ben Quilty, There But For The Grace Of God Go I No. 2, 2009

Sydney gallery GRANTPIRRIE is certainly having a great week, Lionel Bawden just won the Wynne Prize last week and artist Ben Quilty (who they also represent) was stated by The Australian to be part of the final two paintings considered for the winner of the Archibald Prize for 2009. Quilty has now won the Doug Moran National Portrait Prize for $150,000 with a painting of Jimmy Barnes, similar to one entered into the Archibald There But For The Grace Of God Go I No. 2.

Lionel Bawden Wynne Prize 2009

Image: http://www.thearchibaldprize.com.au/winners/wynne

2009 Wynne Prize winner

Lionel Bawden

The amorphous ones (the vast colony of our being)

This beautiful sculpture stood out among the usual landscapes and was certainly presented in a prime location. The work was also a nice break from the strong personalities of the Archibald and some of the overwhelming painting techniques. The work was well crafted and a joy to look at. The natural shapes explored  our emotional connect to landscape and was a great representation of a contemporary take on this genre. Lionel's speech was very sweet and humble, congratulations to him and his representing gallery GRANTPIRRIE. 

ACTIVATE 2750

Activate 2750 (named after the Penrith location of the work) is contemporary art project by artist Ash Keating and is supported by the MCA and several Western suburb galleries and council which makes up C3. The project consists of eight days of sculptures, processions and performances and is created out of commercial and industrial waste from the 26th February until Friday 6th March 2009 in front of the Joan Sutherland Performing Arts Centre.

C3 West cultural partnership is between the MCA, Penrith Regional Gallery & The Lewers Bequest, Casula Powerhouse and Campbelltown Arts Centre.

Climate Cars

Images and link Via Inhabitat

Climate Cars are picking up a lot of attention amidst the recent reports of the redesign of London's iconic buses. Climate Cars are a fairly new company trying to tackle the pollution that the other London transport icon Black Cabs (the Tube would probably be the third) is contributing to London's carbon footprint. The Cabs are hybrid cars and are carbon off-set.

Renew Newcastle launches with Marcus Westbury's help

Renew Newcastle launches this weekend with an event at Renew Newcastle HQ, 3 Morgan St Newcastle this saturday 21st of February at 11AM. Marcus Westbury will then lead a tour of the first of hopefully many projects taking place in and around Newcastle's Hunter Street Mall with Lost At E Minor, Gallery Raw, Emerald Arts and Loop Space some of the arts groups involved.

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Guerilla Gardners

Image: Wolloomooloo Guerilla Garden by Mickie Flick - Flicker

Guerilla Gardeners premiered last night on Channel Ten but is getting some not so great reviews from local councils. As I mentioned in a previous post the Guerilla Gardening phenomena has been around for quite a while although has recently had a revival. It seems once again Channel Ten is trying to make money of cool and dangerous activities (similar to breakdancing on SYTYCD?) and The Sydney Morning Herald is reporting that Marrickville Council is not happy with the structure that was build is a Newtown park, many other Councils have already complained. Below is an image of the Guerilla Gardeners attempt at cleaning up the start of the Express Way in Woolloomooloo - its certainly educational is term of spelling but the cynicism from people responses seems to be more to do with Channel Ten than the gardens themselves.

ABUNDANT: Highlights from the Australian Pavilion at the Venice Architecture Biennale

Image: Abundant at Venice Biennale 2008.
Courtesy tom$ Flicker.

Abundant showcases contemporary Australian architects who exhibited in the 2008 Architecture Biennale in Venice with the theme - Beyond Building. Object will be the only Australian gallery showing the exhibition which demonstrates the breadth of architectural work in Australia and the way in which architects can both problem solve and push forward conceptually.

Until 5 April 2009 at Object Gallery in Surry Hills.