4 stars
A huge variety of artworks are displayed at this exhibition of 130 artists. The most stunning natural piece in the Cutaway is the magnificent sandstone cliff face. It dwarfs the efforts of humans to reproduce the natural world. Go to this show even if just to admire the Cutaway and the nearby Rocks.
This is a well-organised, commercial show of independent artists organised by Saatchi Art, an international exhibition formulaic system that also has bases in Dallas, London, N.Y., Chicago, L.A. and Melbourne. The show is highly efficient. You enter facing the booth that explains how to buy art by independent and emerging artists. An independent artist is not represented by a gallery. There are a few demonstrations, music, a bar and several food vans . A mural artist works on a large wall near the entrance which presumably will be completed by the end of the four day event.
For all the variety of art works, there was very little representation by print makers or ceramic artists. There is an abundance of beach scenes and the usual display of abstract pieces with splashes and pallet knife pulls. Some artists paint interesting pieces with colours right out of the tube while others mix paints, overglaze and varnish in a professionally trained style. All styles can be good art and they are necessary in such a show so that each of the hundreds of people wandering through can find something that speaks to them. A Vermeer style appeals to one and a Rothko to another, and there are derivatives of many famous artists in the show.
Two interesting artists are Kim Kobialko and Saxon Reynolds, both dedicated artisans. Kim is based on Kapiti Coast, Wellington, NZ. She uses the wax from her own bee hives to create finely crafted scenes of heritage sites. In consultation with Sydney Archives and with the National Trust, she obtained rare heritage photographs in digital form, transferred the images onto the special paper and transferred the image to the wax . The carbon in the paper adhered to the wax in near-perfect replication of the original image. Her eyes light up as she describes her delicate process to viewers.
Saxon Reynolds is a Wollongong assemblage artist. He takes found objects and turns them into a new form, representing a particular idea. Many of these assembled pieces are small and under a glass dome. He sources unique glass domes from around the world, and small ones from Target. Many of the pieces include mechanical components and antique materials, celebrating alternate realities. A leather pouch combined with the innards of a clock and other bits and pieces become, in Saxon’s hands, a bird!
It was great fun to chat to the enthusiastic artists, have a glass of sparkly and admire the sandstone cliff.
THE OTHER ART FAIR was in exhibition at the Cutaway between the 11th and the 14th May 2023.
Article by Carol Dance