History of the gallery and current show - “Lines, Signs & Gestures”
Creating this new exhibition space attached to my studio had long been an option under consideration. The house was designed with this option in mind - but the amount of work involved was rather daunting and there’ve been plenty of other distractions between 2000 and 2006 – making my creative pursuits in the studio difficult. So I wasn’t that keen to take on the project even when a local arts organisation (“Blue Mountains Artist’s Company”) precipitated things by inviting me to join their “Studio Trail”. However, about then, our youngest son returned from an overseas jaunt in early 2006 and decided to live at home for a while. This meant that I had some youthful energy on tap to help get things going – if I wanted to take advantage of it. Being the eternal optimist, I thought, ‘…. together, we could knock this project over in a month or so’. But as usual, the course of true love didn’t run smooth. It took a further 12 months of frequent disruptions to my studio routines before the exhibition space was realised and we mounted our first show.
Basically, by late March 2007 we’d set up a gallery and show which, I’d decided, could just sit there until I was ready to change it - or until all the work was sold. Having ones own gallery encourages a wonderful sense of independence and the chance to do all sorts of things which would otherwise be impossible. This is exciting, but we are still working out how important we want the gallery to be in the scheme of things - and I’ve been keen to get into the studio for a good long tilt at some creative ideas - so that’s what I’ve mainly tried to focus upon since opening!
We had never considered the gallery as being the only means of exposing my work - nor expected that it would quickly become successful in attracting a large audience. The idea was always that the studio/gallery and garden might gradually become a semi public institution which people can visit and revisit at appropriate times to observe it’s everchanging nature. We’ve been pleasantly surprised by the response so far but people keep asking if we are having an “Opening” (as if it isn’t open every weekend). Probably a good idea - but I was trying to hold out until I have a whole swathe of new work to show.
However, my wife M had different ideas. She’d apparently been harbouring dark curatorial ambitions; champing at the bit; wanting to get into my cupboards and pull out work that has never been seen since the day it was produced. Some of these pieces are many years old and have never been exhibited because the appropriate occasion hasn’t arisen - or they’ve been more or less forgotten. There are other selections which are quite recent while still other pieces, a little older, have had minimal exposure – but of course, this is what having ones own exhibition space is about. We can exhibit anything we like – when we like! Indeed, I’m sure that what still remains in the cupboards - combined with newly produced work - will eventually help make many more shows of equal or greater interest.
And despite the distractions to my studio work, I’m really pleased that M’s enthusiasm is keeping the gallery idea moving. Without her energy and input, this show, “Lines, Signs & Gestures”, just wouldn’t be happening at this time – and I think her selections combine very well.
AG 11/07.
“LINES, SIGNS & GESTURES”
Curatorial Notes – Merilyn Gilbert
I really liked the first exhibition covering the approach for which Adrian is best known. They were largely figurative and sensual works connecting Adrian’s love of female form and the landscape. However, as an artist who constantly explores new ways of seeing and then reacting to that vision, I felt it was time other approaches were shown - and time to have an ”opening” as well.
So down came exhibition #1 with a plan to replace it with some of the pieces from the two “Lines of Enquiry” exhibitions (2004) plus some works based on his use of actual written words and free form calligraphy - thereby adding “signs & gestures” to the “lines”.
The use of a strong sculptural line has always been an imperative for Adrian, but he moved to a sparser conception of its use in the series of drawings for the “Lines of Enquiry II” show at Northbridge in late 2004. The larger paintings – “EnTrance”, “Message Sticks” and “Shield” (produced after those shows) carry on this rather risky technique – the whole “line” delineated in one long slash - the purely visual calligraphic marks scratched through the still wet paint.
Would it be more meaningful if the calligraphy could be translated into language? Adrian doesn’t believe so. Generally, he aims to minimise the need to analyse and interpret his work, so that there is little interruption to the visual experience. Nevertheless, being as guilty as anyone in trying to understand and explain visual art in verbal terms (at least to himself), Adrian cannot ignore the persistent irony. It deserves expression.
As an artist who uses a journal each day to chart his intellectual and visual ideas, it would seem to be a natural progression to use words and writing within the works themselves. Adrian began experimenting with this idea early in his career and has returned to it at irregular intervals. However, “Dialogue I” (1993) was the first example of the process of journal writing becoming a painted work - without any intention that the dialogue be read by the audience. “Words x 1000 = Picture x 1” is an ironic reversal of the old adage, “One picture is worth a thousand words”. The “Meditations on the Word” paintings use the opening few paragraphs of the John gospel -scratched into the layers of heavy, clay like paint. Visually, all of these wordy paintings are quietly serene and meditative - while intellectually, they are ironic observations of the huge and often confusing role that verbiage plays in the visual art world. But of course, writing – especially with a brush – is also “calligraphy”.
Years of drawing with a long haired brush has enabled Adrian to make it dance. This is amply demonstrated in the more energetic, freeform calligraphy of the “gestures” - “Wild Assertions”, “Z for Freedom”, the “Encryptions”, the “Mountain Gestures” and “Winter Gestures” paintings – all of which capture the liberty of the approach and the positioning of the “gesture” in just the right place.
So, now the works hang together comfortably in both a visual and philosophical sense - although the process of curating the show was not always comfortable. MG 11/07
