COMING UP
Coming up in May, Hue and Cry is pleased to host 3 artists, each with their own style and interpretation of the world around them.
In the Window Gallery, we welcome back Melissa O'Rourke who first exhibited her work during our 2023 Art Prize.
Melissa O’Rourke is an artist and designer-maker living in Dja Dja Wurrung country in Central Victoria. Working across a range of materials and formats, her art practice moves between painting, drawing, design, print and sculpture, to explore the representation of female perspectives drawn from her experience of living, loving and travelling both at home and away.
For her exhibition, The Company of Women, Melissa conveys states of longing, loss and fortitude known to every woman. Using gestural brushwork on paper, these artworks evoke landscapes of feeling and feminine knowing that transcend the specificities of time and place to express the here and now of female experience. Icon, mother, lover, siren, saint: these recent prints and paintings by O’Rourke draw on the representation of women across time and place to repopulate history with images of women both real and imagined.
The Gallery 2, we welcome David Eyres for his first solo exhibition. David is a stockroom artist with us at Hue and Cry, has participated in group shows and is a studio member at Boom Gallery.
Taking inspiration from his years of experience as a Melbourne-based Architect, David's 'Shadows' is a series of paintings based on the idea of a block seen from above, casting diagonal shadows where the overlapping shadows result in different shapes, which vary in prominence by means of colour.
The single motif is used in different ways, sometimes upside down or back to front, painted in a limited range of colours. Several paintings use only two complimentary colours and the the mixes in between.
The aim: to try to paint a number of works of different character by deliberately restricted means.
There are a total of eleven paintings using acrylic on canvas, accompanied by eight small oil pastel sketches exploring the same and similar themes.
David was born in Ballarat where he spent happy years as a child. He has lived mostly in Melbourne but moved to Geelong in 2011. Widowed with one son.
He attended Geelong Grammar School where he was fortunate to be taught art by the Bauhaus master (and Duniera boy) Ludvig Hirschfeld - Mack who became a lifelong friend.
After school he studied architecture at Melbourne University. The course covered all aspects of design and training in drawing and rendering, etc. as well as the necessary subjects in building construction and planning. Fine Arts was taught by Professor Sir Joseph Burke.
On graduating David travelled extensively overseas working as an architect in New York and London, and later in Melbourne until retirement about 1997.
His work as an architect included planning, design and documentation of all building types, mostly for schools and colleges. On retirement David took on the role of scenic designer and painter for many musical theatre shows produced by Whitehorse Musical Theatre and other companies in the eastern suburbs of Melbourne.
He now enjoys painting at Boom studios in Chilwell; his main interests include music (classical music and MPB and piano), travel, architecture and art.
Our third Artist, exhibiting in Gallery 3, is Christian Den Besten. We welcome Christian back after his huge success as one of our winners from our 2023 Art Prize.
Working as an artist for over 25 years, Christian uses art to interpret and connect with his community. Current affairs, infrastructure, and people that affect his everyday life are his favourite subject matter. Christian’s art takes on many forms from drawings of iconic buildings, stop animation films about politicians and 3D sculptures of people, vehicles and watercraft. Christian takes great pleasure in documenting his town and the places he visits. We all feel the need for connection to our community and this is Christian's. With quiet contemplation we can see through Christian’s work, a true reflection of our wonderful history of architecture and industry.
Christian is a prolific self - taught artist who has exhibited in galleries such as the Canberra National Gallery, the Gallery of Ballarat and the Geelong Gallery. He has works in museum, gallery and private collections within
Australia. Currently Christian attends the ArtGusto studio in the Geelong CBD 3 days a week.
ArtGusto is a working studio for disabled and neurodiverse artists, working in the visual arts.
"We are based in the Geelong CBD and offer opportunities for artists to practice their art individually. The group studio setting is inclusive, supportive and will encourage artists to try new ways of working and develop a wider
understanding of compromise. The day to day running of the studio is designed to build confidence, responsibility, and ownership for the artists, creating a workplace that fosters positive work practices".
Artists have access to qualified arts practitioners for one -to- one support.
ArtGusto encourages artists to further their arts practice, develop and increase participation in the wider arts and culture community. Artists work toward achieving their creative goals by sharing in collaborative community
and commercial projects, exhibiting, and selling their work and expanding their community and professional connections. For more information, head to www.artgusto.com.au
All 3 exhibitions open on 4th May, to which we invite you join us, from 7pm onwards.
4th May- 25th May
64 - 66 Ryrie Street, Geelong, 3220