A very captivating exhibition has invaded the Traffic Jam Galleries reshaped space with works by Jenny Green (INTERPLAY) and Rebecca Pierce ( THE SIMPLE LIFE) .Both are bright , bold ,vivid and entrancing . what is also exciting is seeing the contrast and range of styles produced by both artists.
First , considering Jenny Green’s exhibition INTERPLAY . From her studio in Sydney’s Northern Beaches Jenny Green creates her sculpture in bronze, steel & resins. Her work is represented in private, public & corporate collections, and has won a number of awards. Green exhibits at traffic jam galleries at Neutral Bay and in group exhibitions including with the Sculptors Society.
In 2015, Jenny was appointed to the Board of the National Art School..Her work is currently shortlisted in the Northern Beaches Art Prize. As displayed here, Green’s abstract sculptures of steel can be of strong ,coloured, dynamic ‘singing ‘ lines , full of energy and ‘eating’ space .They vary considerably in size – some of them are small, while others are large and free standing ( eg INTERPLAY 1 & 2 ) and have a pebbled floor , as if invoking a Zen garden.
Green’s bronze figurative sculptures ( eg Rapport , Hey There ) are semi abstract and often have a great feeling of weight and heaviness ,yet this is combined with a sense of pulsating energy and movement .Some sit or stand on plinths the bodies in discussion or thought.
Rebecca Pierce’s exhibition is entitled THE SIMPLE LIFE.Pierce primarily works with paint, inks and fine points on canvas and paper.Pierce has participated in numerous solo and group exhibitions throughout Australia and overseas. She has been a finalist in major art prizes including the Glencore Percival Portrait Prize, the Mosman Art Prize, the Heysen Art Prize, the Fishers Ghost Art Prize, the Hawkesbury Art Prize, the Hunters Hill Art Prize, the ANL Maritime Art Prize and the Willoughby Art Prize. Rebecca’s work is represented in corporate and private collections in Australia and internationally.Ths particular exhibition includes some of her trademark bright, bursting thickly textured floral arrangements ( eg Country , Red Roses Blue Vase IX , Blow That Cone Full Salute ) but also features a very different change in style ( or two ).
There are some wonderful abstract multi textured,rather large ,swirling canvases painted with many layers of mirror resin , some also including straw attached , which are full of bold dynamic colour and energy . (eg The Simple Life C Dandelion) Flow parts 1-3 is like a triptych of a giant rolling wave . Major social issues are also commented on with for example The Motion of Transition diptych of paintings.There is perhaps a sense of unsettling un predictability and we see how Pierce interprets the human face and form (there is also a self portrait included) and the reading of the natural landscape around us and how these interweave.
A very striking exhibition.
Jenny Green’s Interplay and Rebecca Pierce’s The Simple Life run at the Traffic Jam Galleries 9 – 31 August 2017
