Sunday Arts Magazine

Five years in the making and an odyssey in its creation, artist Marco Luccio presents Tales from The Greek art exhibition and book launch at fortyfivedownstairs.

This exhibition will be one of the biggest in scale and ambition in over thirty years of Luccio’s international art career. It features large canvasses, found objects, drypoints, etchings, charcoal drawings, collagraphs, ink, mixed media, pencil and monotypes.

Tales from The Greek will also feature a collaboration between Luccio and award-winning author John Hughes. After their 2013 critically acclaimed collaboration, The Garden of Sorrows, the pair have come together again for this stunning collection of eight narrative adaptations of Greek myths and tragedies.

Hughes incorporates versions of Sophocles’ Philoctetes, a classic triangle of trust and deceit, and Antigone, which reverses time’s arrow so that the protagonist’s life unfolds like a film running in reverse to explore the paradoxical implications of living in a family that has been cursed, as well as Aeschylus’ Oresteia, Euripides’ Hecuba, and evocative new renderings of Daedalus and Icarus, Sisyphus, and Achilles.

In response to the stories, Luccio’s series of artworks are both dramatic and gritty. Using a variety of mediums, he has been able to produce a collection of works that help bring the text to life in a rich and distinguished way. The stories require no prior knowledge of the myths on which they are based, but will appeal to readers who know and enjoy Greek myth and take pleasure in seeing how these timeless stories can be recast and reshaped into creative new forms.

With Tales from the Greek, Luccio’s artworks are instantly confronting, causing prompt reaction and attention from the spectator. When drypoint has been the chosen medium, Luccio’s signature style has shaped his visual interpretation into sensational yet striking artworks. Further, when Luccio has employed charcoal within the artworks, they are bursting with classical and sculptural chiaroscuro allowing him to capture Hughes’ dramatic emotive content.  Beyond the tense beauty of Luccio’s artworks, the thoughtful spectator will be generously rewarded by their association to the ancient Greek myths explored by Hughes.

Hughes says, “Luccio has reached deep inside himself and found there the spirit of ancient Greece, its blood and brutality, its tragedy and pathos, its clarity and excess, its beauty and its terror. The images are at once intimate and monumental, wild and restrained, stark and teeming with life. It’s as if he’s found a visual equivalent of a riddle, a stylistic method that not only represents but also embodies the paradoxical complexities inherent in these foundational stories.”

Luccio says, “When I read the stories the first time, I knew this was going to be a monumental project. I had worked with John last on The Garden of Sorrows, which has had great critical acclaim. John’s words inspired so many ideas along the themes of love, power, war, hate, revenge, sadness and ambition, together with many other emotions and traits. I love challenging myself to create new work and am constantly seeking ways to expand my artistic ability and creative scope. My hope for these works is that they not only resonate in a traditional way, but also are seen as fresh and contemporary interpretations of Greek mythical imagery.”

Visitors will be rewarded with an artist whose latest offering expands on an ever-growing body of work that is unique, exciting and always surprising. Those who know Luccio’s work will be familiar with the gritty and expressive visceral mark-making on display, which Luccio delivers in Trojan Horse sized chunks in Tales fr...

Natasha Gadd took the helm of AIDC earlier this year, coming to the role with more than two decades of experience across film production, programming and distribution. Over her career, she has worked as a cinema programs and public programs manager at ACMI, festival director of the REAL: Life on Film festival and board member of NFSA. In 2005, she co-founded Daybreak Films, and her debut feature documentary, Words From the City was nominated for five AFI Awards. and her follow up feature, Murundak: Songs of Freedom, received the Grand Prix – FIFO, Best Documentary – Valladolid International Film Festival, and the United Nations Association of Australia Media Peace Award. She has also made a number of short documentaries for SBS, ABC and Foxtel, including Anatomy: Muscle, for which she received an Australian Directors Guild Best Director award.

AIDC is an innovative and industry-leading documentary event which takes place in Melbourne every year, bringing together industry leaders from across the world with Australian nonfiction creators. It’s a great event, in which craft, technology and the future of the sector are discussed and progressed. Natasha is committed to using the conference to create new initiatives that will strengthen our sector, our storytellers and our stories.

The conference also celebrates power of documentaries to ignite social change, and this year will specifically look at how the artform has brought us vital stories from the frontlines and the margins during a time of pandemic-driven lockdowns and closures. In a year of immense social upheaval, environmental change, political unrest and cultural reckonings, documentarians have turned their lenses to all corners of the globe, expanding our knowledge of the world we live in, giving voice to the underrepresented, and acting as an agent of change.

Ryan Gonzalez (They/Them) is a true triple-threat performer with a career in theatre, film and cabaret. Ryan’s recent and diverse theatre credits include Roy in Fun Home (Sydney Theatre Company), Gabriel in Kiss of the Spider Woman (Melbourne Theatre Company), Mike in Velvet Rewired for Adelaide Fringe and Frankie Valli in the national tour of international blockbuster musical, Jersey Boys (Newtheatricals). Ryan performed to critical acclaim as Usnavi De La Vega in Blue Saint’s production of In the Heights, winning a Sydney Theatre Award for Best Male Actor in a Musical. He played Freddy in The View Upstairs for Hayes Theatre Co and Charles Guiteau in Assassins for the Sydney Opera House season. Sydney Symphony Orchestra credits include Eddie Ryan in Funny Girl in Concert and The Bernstein Songbook. Further theatre credits include one-man cabaret show ¡Hispanic Attack!, Angel in Kinky Boots, Wayne Burns/understudy Scott Hastings in Strictly Ballroom, King Kong, Legally Blonde, Virgil in Violet, Opera Australia’s Carmen, Gypsy (also Resident Choreographer), Young Frankenstein (also Associate Choreographer) and American Psycho (also Associate Choreographer). Feature film credits include Happy Feet 2, The Great Gatsby and Goddess.

Stephen talks to the Sunday Arts Magazine team about films.

Shepparton Art Museum (SAM) is one of Australia’s outstanding regional art museums, showcasing our exhibitions and collections in new and exciting ways and creating a welcoming, inclusive and engaging space for all audiences. Artists are central to our work. Our programming is designed to be locally relevant and engage with global contemporary ideas. SAM is recognised for its significant Australian ceramics collection, and our nationally significant collection of Indigenous art. As the only public art museum in Greater Shepparton and north central Victoria, our mission is to present great art in Shepparton, and to contribute to the cultural enrichment, community engagement and economic prosperity of the region.

Melbourne duo In Capital release their second full length album, Fridays withCarol. Fridays With Carol is a prismatic blend of 80s pop/new wave and indie rock influences, with moments of mad energy and pure joy, from Melbourne duo In Capital.With the first line of ascendant synth,In Capital transport us through a tear in time to a nostalgic world where Tears for Fears, The War on Drugs and LCD Sound system are refracted in a crystal maze. The album is a breathless and breath-taking ten-track flow of pop chimeras: familiar elements assembled into new and exciting forms where everything shimmers.Cameron Ford and Nick Jenkin write, record, produce, mix and release everything themselves, which gives them the freedom to make the kind of music they love.Friendship and hope saturate every hook, beat and cascade of keys onFridays withCarol, recorded over two years in the pockets of freedom during the world’s longest lockdown.The album’s first single ‘Dr. Mann’s Disco Plan’ is a dance floor-filling dose of the medicine we all need. Dr. Mann swaggers in with a growl before a soul/pop riff clears the way for a sublime confection of disco beats, club piano, sax, a bit of Bowie, TheB-52s, and some ‘ooh-la-lahs’ for good measure. It’s like something much-loved but only half-remembered from a long-lost mixtape.The style is an evolution of the electronic sound on their first LP,Human Is(2018). ‘We let the songs be what they wanted to be,’Nick says. ‘That ethos led to a more pared-back sound. We even pressed rough cuts, throwing away ‘perfection ’for a moment in time that couldn’t be replicated.’Case in point: ‘Studio Blues’is the distillation of 2am finishes, ragged end of party energy, and general good times. It’s one part jam session, two parts revival meeting replete with organs and claps, and three parts scotch.‘I’m just feeling my way through this life/ and I found a beat and a pace that suits me just fine’, Cam sings like a tunefulDylan doing Marvin Gaye, or Lou Reed putting on Barry White.Between the certified bangers you’ll also find indie-rock full of sparkling guitars and high-aerobic 80s drum machines (‘Brightly’) or honeyed sax that pools like the sunlight in the middle of an empty street (‘Everything I Need’).

For a change of pace, ‘You ’is a stunning synth-scape about distance and disconnection; a showcase of Nick’s sublime production which sounds like a city levitating under an electric moon.‘Roland Garros’ begins the album’s euphoric run to the end. It’s an irresistible blend ofPrince,Daft Punk, and early 90s club/dance elements:at its heart is the clamour of desire to get back in the middle of a high, sweating crowd with our hands in the air.The majestic finale, ‘Bell Jar’, climbs to its feet through an orchestra of cellos, chants and marching drums, then opens-out the future with a rhapsodic shout:‘One more step and we’ll know our son.’‘Making this album was cathartic,’Cam says. ‘It’s been something to care about and obsess over while everything happening around us was out of our control.’Fridays with Carol” has a lightness that allows us to escape.Each song is utterly unique, yet they all hang together like charms on a bracelet, every track an alternate world where there are colours, brighter than our own, lit by different sun

A fantastic mix of live and online events, Saturday the

6th of November 2021 heralds the greatly anticipated

fourth annual Austen Con; a much-loved celebration and

exploration of all things Jane Austen.

One of England’s most beloved novelists, Jane Austen was born in 1775 and wrote from a young age, initially to

amuse her family. Her six major novels, of which Pride and Prejudice is probably the best known, are set amongst

the British landed gentry and lauded worldwide for their wit, romance, and social commentary.

Running in the beautiful surrounds on Melbourne’s Abbotsford Convent, this year lucky ticket holders can partake

in activities that range from crafting, a speed dating game and dancing, an escape room, the art of letter writing

and lively discussions on an array of Austen inspired topics with a wonderful mix of guest presenters and expert

enthusiasts.

Opening on 30 October, Found and Gathered: Rosalie Gascoigne | Lorraine Connelly-Northey  unites two important Australian artists for the first time and brings attention to the shared materiality at the heart of the practices of both Rosalie Gascoigne (1917–1999) and Lorraine Connelly-Northey (b. 1967) and their transformative use of found and discarded objects to create surprising and beautiful works of art.

Through a major display of more than 75 wall-based and sculptural works that traverses the entire ground-floor of The Ian Potter Centre: NGV Australia, the exhibition will highlight each artist’s unique and significant place within Australian art, while also illuminating the sympathetic relationships between their works, exemplified by their shared use of materials such as corrugated iron, wire and other media.

New Zealand-born Gascoigne moved to Mount Stromlo in 1943 and the surrounding region greatly inspired her artistic practice thenceforth. Gascoigne is recognised for her textural works assembled from discarded items, including corrugated iron, feathers, wood and wire, as well as her distinctive wall-mounted pieces formed from reflective road signs and soft drink cases. Evoking the lyrical beauty of her local region through her use of materials, Gascoigne’s poetic works have had a radical impact on the ways in which the Australian landscape is represented and perceived. Her first exhibition was held in 1974 when she was 57 years old, and in 1982, Gascoigne was selected as the inaugural female artist to represent Australia at the Venice Biennale.

Born in 1962 and raised at Swan Hill in western Victoria, on Wamba Wamba traditional lands, Connelly-Northey is influenced by an amalgam of her father’s Irish ancestry and mother’s Waradgerie (Wiradjuri) heritage. She utilises materials often associated with European settlement and industrialisation and repurposes them into sculptural works that reference little-known traditional weaving techniques and Indigenous cultural objects, such as kooliman and dilly bags. Through her work, Connelly-Northey explores the dynamic and resilient nature of both her Country and Aboriginal heritage.

The exhibition will include works by both artists held in the NGV Collection as well as works from major public institutions and private collections around Australia. Highlight works include Gascoigne’s Pink window 1975, comprised of a found weathered window frame and corrugated iron. The work is the artist’s first galvanised iron work and is constructed to look like a drawn curtain, reflecting her memories of loneliness when she first moved to Mount Stromlo. Flash art 1987, also on display, is one of Gascoigne’s earliest assemblages and is uniquely fabricated out of salvaged reflective road signs.

Connelly-Northey’s Three rivers country 2010, pays homage to the artists maternal knowledge of water on Country, representing the land of her mother’s tribal boundary. A further work by Connelly-Northey is the wall-based Possum-skin cloak: Blackfella road, 2011-13, which uses woven barbed wire to reference the traditional garment. The use of materials by the artist signifies the desecration of Aboriginal burial sites that resulted from the construction of an unsealed road near Swan Hill.

Starring Alex Dimitriades, Paul Capsis, Julian Garner and Elena Mandalis, Head On was the

groundbreaking debut feature film for Ana Kokkinos, who adapted the screenplay from Christos

Tsiolkas’ novel, Loaded and Lauded as ‘the film that helped change Australian culture’ for opening dialogue and breaking

down the barriers between younger Greeks and their parents, Head On was first released in

August, 1998, earning nine AACTA Award nominations (formerly AFI) and international accolades

stemming from its premiere at Cannes Film Festival, where it screened as part of the coveted

Directors Fortnight program.

Confronting and compelling, Head On is a bleak look at race, sexuality and class in contemporary

Australian society.

Alex Dimitriades is exceptional in his role as Ari, an angry, confused, nihilistic, unemployed 19-

year-old Greek Australian. The film follows an intense 24 hours of his life, fuelled by drugs, booze

and anonymous sex as he grapples with his sexuality and clashes with his traditional Greek family.

Twenty-three years after its cinema release, Head On is still regarded as an iconic Australian film,

particularly by the LGBTQ+ community.

Artist Cameron Robbins has created a sunlight powered drawing instrument which draws in graphite onto the gallery’s foyer wall, inspired by the lunar eclipse of May 26 2021. Each line is made as sunlight filters through cloud, atmosphere and trees, to motivate a solar-motor driven pen. Each day, drawings accumulate from thousands of consecutive lines. Cameron explains: “During the eclipse we are reminded that the Earth always casts its shadow into space while the moon passes through it on its monthly journey and project onto it is the red ring of all the sunset and sunrises at once.”

Cameron’s work makes tangible the underlying structures and rhythms of natural forces, he has produced site-specific installations and exhibitions in art centres, disused buildings and outdoor sites in Australia, Japan, Norway, China, Germany and the UK.