On the weekend I went to a talk by artists Miik Green and Simon Gilby at Linton and Kay Gallery. The talk was about Miik Greens exhibition Poet Blood/Artist Sweat and it was well worth seeing. This artwork couldn’t be more different from my own but perhaps that’s why I loved it so much. (To go to the Linton and Kay website to see the work click here). If I had the money I would have bought one of these pieces in a heartbeat.
These abstract works are beautifully constructed and beautiful to look at. The pieces have a feeling of relating of cellular structures, micro organisms and the cosmos. The micro, macro lens, the building blocks of the universe. Interesting is the way these beautiful images are constructed, using chance and pouring resin with other materials together, you could say Miik was the facilitator of these works, although I think it is more than that, there is a lot in what that artists chooses, in terms of materials and how they are placed.
The material substance of artwork has always been integral to the making, whether you are talking about Jackson Pollock dribbling automotive paint from a stick or Michelangelo’s David the materials are integral to the process and the artwork is a bi-product resulting from that process.
The material nature of things is also explored in the sculptural works for this exhibition where Green gave several artists a block of plywood and asked them to make something from their own ideas. While I enjoyed all of these pieces and loved hearing Simon Gilby’s talk about the process of making his work. I also enjoyed the playful nature of Bevan Honeys piece and the anti-art created by Olga Cironis which also comments on the nature of materials. It was interesting to see all these works derived from a block of Plywood displayed together and the very different approaches made by different artists.

By far my favourite of these plywood works was Tom Freeman’s piece “Hole”. This beautifully smooth and sanded box, on the outside and the equally beautiful rough organic hole made into the centre spoke to me. Outside and inside. Constructed and deconstructed. The human made world verses the natural world. What you show on the outside versus what is inside. The conscious verses the unconscious. The layers of the hole, and the apparent effort to create it, told with the roughly hacked  inside surface.
Myself a printmaker, many of these are the concerns of my own narrative, figurative artwork but here, Tom saying it all so differently and with such simplicity.

Beautifully open ended, thoughtful and thought provoking, is how I would describe this entire exhibition, so if you are in Perth drop in to Linton and Kay. Many of the works are reasonably priced and there are still some fantastic pieces without a red dot.
It does surprise me that more work was not sold in an exhibition of such high quality. Although this would be the subject of a whole other blog. Is it due to marketing, lack of education in the buying public, or current economic times. -I don’t know.
Exhibition finishes on the 28th May 2015.
Link to Miik Greens Exhibition at Linton And Kay
http://www.lintonandkay.com.au/exhibitions/miik-green-poet-bloodartist-sweat/
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