Wayne Pearson's Post-Graduate Exhibition

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After 3 years of sustained effort, experimentation, trial and error (but mostly success) Wayne Pearson has produced an astounding collection of portraits of some of the leading figures in the Australian studio glass scene. A group of almost 40 collectors, curators, practitioners and gallerists now grace the walls of one of the main exhibition spaces at Sydney College of the Arts Rozelle campus.

Wayne first interviewed all of his subjects and during the interview Marina his wife took photographs for reference. Wayne says that the interviews were an integral part of the whole process and very much governed the form of the final portrait. It was a fascinating process to be a part of. As well as these narrative works, his doctorate also explored the non-subjective, amorphous nature of glass where the material itself carries meaning, or rather allows the viewer to fall into the work and create his own narrative .

The surface of these pieces was particular seductive and was only finally resolved in the past few months with the help of Bridgett Thomas, a fellow student. Each form was ground with a wet pumice paste and scouring cloth to achieve a beautiful satin finish. Light is captured within the form and the veiwer finds himself dwelling there, lost for long moments.

Successful Installation

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With the assistance of two friends I installed this window in the Samoan Christian Church on Forest Rd Lugarno over four days, finishing Sat 12th June. It's been my major project over the previous 6months.

The design is a re-working of a set of triple lancet windows I made in 1999 for All Saints Anglican Church in Tumut.

Sign of the Times

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Nov. last year a friend named Steve McLaren curated an exhibition at TAP Gallery in Darlinghurst entitled Not Only Black and White. It was an interesting theme to work to and I got excited and began a new collage/mixed media work on a black background, working with shades of black and all the various grades of white. The meta-meaning of gradations of black and white in a moral sense came to the fore as I was working with the piece. The exhibition came and went (I hung several pencil and charcoal drawings) and the new work languished for a time, until Brendan Penzer's call out a month ago for submissions in ATVP's annual `show of the year', entitled Sign of the Times.

The image below is the result. Quite rich in content it engaged members of the audience for long periods, which is about as much as you can ask of an artwork at an exhibition where there is much going on; ATVP's shows generally comprise a substantial performance component and are quite significant events.

It constantly amazes me the diverse ways in which artists will interpret a particular theme. I was very taken with the two posters of an atomic explosion over Marshall Island, by Jason Wing vs Mini Graf, superimposed with the words "REFUGE ISLAND".

Ganbeld Lunaa presented a wonderful mixed media work entitled "Endless Bullshit Cassette Series" comprising a series of cassette tapes bound wildly in wire and screwed to painted canvases. I recognised a sympathetic sensibility of materials here, combined with a very Dada aesthetic. Each tape was labelled in various modes of bullshit.

The main gallery contained three sets of sculpted busts on plinths; the most prominent being, of course, Julia Gillard and Tony Abbott in painted reinforced latex by Kassandra Bossell (below): an impressive likeness and eerily disturbing. Shown above is a wonderfully lighthearted installation that appeared on the awning of the gallery over King St. creating new meaning from truncated signage. And just inside the gallery door, down on the floor, was a delightful altar piece by Coris Evans set up on an amplifier and two speakers with looped chanting filling the gallery space.

ATVP (At The Vanishing Point) is definitily one of the most interesting of the current crop of contemporary ARIs, always presenting challenging and dynamic exhibitions. It deserves your attention.