Art Deco
The National Gallery of Australia captures the excitement and hopefulness of post-World War I Australia with the opening of Art Deco, a free exhibition featuring 20th century paintings, sculptures, fashion, photographs and decorative arts drawn entirely from the national collection.
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Art Deco includes one of the NGA's greatest long-hidden treasures: Napier Waller's I'll put a girdle round about the Earth, 1933. A preliminary painting for Waller's famous mosaic on Newspaper House on Collins Street in Melbourne, this enormous three-panelled work has been lovingly restored by NGA conservators over the last two years to be presented for the first time in its entirety in Canberra since the NGA's opening in 1982.
Art Deco is now on display in the NGA's Australian Art Galleries.
Weight of light
Canberra author Nigel Featherstone, in collaboration with composer James Humberstone, has set the tone for a new Australian story situated not far from Canberra. The Weight of Light is a gritty, song-filled chronicle giving voice to the personal impact of modern warfare and the costs that are borne by families.
The Street Theatre teams up with the Goulburn Regional Conservatorium for the world premiere of The Weight of Light opening on Saturday, March 3.
Having completed his latest tour of Afghanistan, an Australian soldier is on leave and taking the opportunity to return to his family's farm in Crookwell. As he makes his way home he is confronted by news that is both life-affirming and devastating, which pushes him to reveal a dark secret that clings like a ghost. Ultimately he must question everything he knows.
The Weight of Light, The Street Theatre, from March 3.
New gallery
Canberra-based artist, teacher and gallery owner Margaret Hadfield, and historian Dr Kathryn Spurling spend their weekends scouring op shops, auctions and garage sales rescuing paintings.
Too often, they say, pieces of art that depict the Australian landscape, lifestyle, flora, fauna and culture are discarded as unfashionable. "These however depict our artistic heritage and the talents of Australian visionaries. Too often a splash of colour replaces a fine work of art or a creative depiction."
Artistic Vision Gallery was launched online at artisticvisiongallery.com and now there'll be a physical presence, with a new gallery space opening in Fyshwick from March 4.
Members of the public are warmly invited to the official opening on March 4, from 2-4pm.
Through the lens
By day Konrad Lenz is a mild-mannered reader's assistant at the National Library of Australia. By night he's a artist, musician and photographer. And it's this last passion that's the focus of an exhibition entitled Portraits.
Portraiture has been the main theme running through all of his art.
"I've always been interested in people, in their faces, personalities and lives. I like people," he says.
The work in this show is a small selection of images from the last 25 years. Each portrait is accompanied by personal notes on each of the subjects, which attests to Lenz's personal nature of working.
He says he started taking photography seriously when he was 15 years old.
"It seemed like magic while I watched an image appear in the developer under the dim orange glow of the safelights. These days I mostly shoot with a digital SLR but it still feels like magic when I get a good photo."
Portraits, at the The Photography Room, Old Bus Depot Markets, Kingston, until March 4.
Human condition
Another Day in Paradise is an exhibition that will provoke many questions.
On April 29, 2015, 34-year-old Australian Myuran Sukumaran was executed by firing squad in Indonesia for drug trafficking offences after 10 years of incarceration and rehabilitation. During his imprisonment, Sukumaran trained and achieved formal qualifications as an artist.
Another Day in Paradise will feature works created during his time in Bali's Kerobokan Prison and later on Nusa Kambangan Island, including a prolific series of works created in the last 72 hours of his life. Alongside these will feature the work of five significant contemporary artists responding to Sukumaran's story.
There will be a series of public programs entitled The Human Condition that invite the community to explore the many difficult themes and questions emerging from the works and the associated story.
More details can be found at tuggeranongarts.com
Another Day in Paradise, Tuggeranong Arts Centre, until April 29.
