POLLYXENIA JOANNOU [AUSTRALIA] to black...sex and death 31 May - 9 July 2008
This latest series of concrete works by Pollyxenia Joannou are the stunning result of the Tim Storrier National Art School Residency for 2006/07. This residency at the renouned Cité Internationale des Arts in Paris, produced first a series of Poloroid snapshots which then became quite serious studies in concrete principals realized in oils and charcoals, on rag paper, watercolour paper, andon board.
The simplicity of materials and minimalist use of colour allow Joannou to explore more base elements in the composition of her works, playing with depth, scale, light, shade, inclusion, and exclusion. The reductive use of drawing only geometric shapes and sharp angles using only charcoal or oils, rag, board or paper is also a conscious step backwards from the medium of photography to the more raw record of drawing. This recession in regards to technology carries over to the notion that recorded memory and realized meaning can be two, often opposing, forces.
Pollyxenia Joannou lives and works in Sydney’s Inner West, teaching art students at The Northern Institute (TAFE) and the National Art School, to share her expertise. Her work spans over 25 years, with prestigious group exhibitions, including the Sulman Prize, the Archibald Prize, and the Portia Geach Memorial Award. With numerous solo exhibition, residencies, scholarships and grants in Sydney and abroad, Pollyxenia Joannou has certainly established herself a space on the contemporary art scene.
MULTIPLE BOX SYDNEY:
RICHARD TIPPING SUBVERT I SING 31 May - 9 July 2008
Best known for his visual poetry and politically charged signs made of aluminium and reflective tape, Richard Tipping’s latest exhibition features industrial objects which have been given new identities through language. A beautifully designed watch has on its face 14 words arising from its title “Openotherend”, while a serious welding helmet declares on its visors that “Art keeps going in one eye and out the other”. Movement and message are always integral to Tipping’s witty and enjoyable artworks, and this exhibition encourages our engagement with the transformative powers of what Marcel Duchamp famously called the ‘manipulated readymade’.
As well as these and other new works, Multiple Box Sydney will host the Australian release of Richard Tipping’s new book Subvert I Sing, published by Redfox Press in Ireland. This pocketsized hardcover book is 40 pages in length and features some of his favourite subvertising works and signs including Come In, We’re Closed and Caution! There is No Avant-garde – Only Those Who have Been Left Behind. Openotherend is published and produced by Artikel Editionen, Berlin.
