Artists WA – showcasing West Australian artists

Embargoed 1st October 2008

Childhood daydreams, influence for new photographic exhibition

Cast your mind back to your childhood days, adorned with your mother’s pearls, dancing in the garden, feathers and flowers in your hair, playing dress-ups. You were just a girl, energetic, curious, carefree and full of high hopes and dreams.

…Like I saw in your dreams, , is a series of post-process digital photographs and illustrations, capturing the child-like fantasies and day-dreams so many little girls had before evolving into women.
The exhibition focuses on the energetic, curious, illogical yet beautiful nature of the girl within the woman. Each piece features a single female in a depiction of the imagined views many women had of themselves as children; mystical, glamorous and beautiful.

Held at The blend(er) gallery in Joondalup with opening night on Wednesday, October 22nd 2008 at 7pm, …Like I saw in your dreams will be on display for 2 weeks. During which time, art-enthusiasts can invoke their inner childhood dreams between 10am and 2pm Tuesday to Friday and between 6pm and 9pm Friday to Sunday through to closing night Saturday,
November 1st.

The surreal environment in each photograph suggests the different points of view for each individual, in which the female subject is displayed in a closed, solitary universe, totally at peace and fulfilled by her own existence.
The artist Mu incorporates aspects of ‘lyashi-kei’ girls from Japanese culture as well as elements of Zen Buddhism, in a surprising synergy with Perth-based models.
The exhibition excites the imagination and challenges viewers to consider whether they are living the life they dreamed of as children. Whether they are the person they imagined themselves to be. Whether they are happy and fulfilled by their identity.

A combination of soft light, organic shapes and strong colours has been used to manifest the dreamy, surreal yet powerful representation in each piece. Adding to the mystical atmosphere of the photographs are mixtures of elaborate fabrics, feathers, flowers and pearls evoking a chic atmosphere and vogue-esque style.

Originally from Japan, Mu has a unique western-Japanese art style, developed through her visual and design experience in both Australia and Japan. While much of her background has been in illustrations, Mu’s photographic passion has developed in recent years, blossoming into what can only be described as a wonderfully, unique representation of the world as she sees it.

A joint venture of the City of Joondalup and the Joondalup Community Arts Association, the blend(er) is a community gallery offering the perfect forum for local artists to exhibit their work in a collaborative environment.

For more info, please contact Mu Okayama-Everitt on 0400 666 066 or email mickandmu@theroute777.com

Whitegoods : The Launch
What
Whitegoods Exhibition and Store Opening
Who
Artists: Creepy, Deathbot, Hagar, Golden Child, Sleep and Suspecto
When
Opens Wednesday 27th August from 6pm
exhibition runs until Friday 12th September 2008 11am – 6pm daily
Where
Whitegoods, L1 276 William Street Northbridge
This August sees the opening of yet another creative retail space on William Street. Whitegoods is Keith + Lottie’s new arm, which aims to aid creative inspiration by providing artists and designers with alternative blank canvases on which to create.
The store will carry a range of customisable apparel, accessories, designer vinyl toys, babushka dolls and more. In addition to these products, Whitegoods will offer a badge making service and short run digital fabric printing, making one off prints a feasible reality.
Whitegoods is the newest addition to the William Street precinct which is fast forging its reputation as Perth’s home of alternative retail.
In celebration Keith + Lottie Gallery are showcasing the products available in the store, customised by some of Perth’s most exciting young artists. Each will restyle a different product and produce a limited edition tee shirt print.

West Australian photographer, Seng Mah, re-imagines the icon of the Australian surf-lifesaver beyond its traditional associations with masculinity and mateship. This exhibition asks whether the values and attitudes often attached to this prevailing icon are still relevant today, or if the traditions of surf life saving have evolved with the way we culturally identify ourselves as Australians. The pictures reveal stories of individual surf lifesavers: stories that can be poignant, dramatic, quirky and even erotic. The images re-purpose the icon for consumption by a 21st century multi-cultural, multi-faceted audience, and engage currently evolving attitudes about men, masculinity and about being Australian. “Sons of Beaches” is part of the FotoFreo 2008 International Festival of Photography.

“We’ll Always Have Paris: Bent Tales from the Sub-Atomic”

Carl Gopalkrishnan has been exhibiting in Australia and the US since 1987. His artwork has always been about explorations in Conciousness Studies, from the perspective of society and personal relationships to politics. “We’ll Always Have Paris” focuses specifically on Carl’s interest in quantum theory and how it might twist ordinary life.

Einstein once referred to quantum physics as a ‘spooky’ science because it challenges all aspects of what we associate with what is ‘normal’ (or the classic physics of Isaac Newton). Carl says that the more he learnt about quantum theory, the more he realised that these traditional laws of physics are still used to describe things – our histories and identities. He poses the question, “what if we erased those assumptions and read our stories with new laws, what would they look like?”

In this show, Carl explores these theories in a more imaginative and playful framework using well known public myths and literature. For example, in one set of paintings he looks at the 1997 death of Princess Diana. In another, the fictional characters, Cathy-Heathcliff-Cathy from Emily Bronte’s novel Wuthering Heights which bears an uncanny resemblance to the Schrodinger’s Cat story used to explain quantum theory.

He grounds the pictures in the cliché “We’ll always have Paris”, used by lovers to recover lost memory, feeling, imagination and a reference point to measure time in their life.

Please join us for opening drinks on Thursday the 17th January at 6pm.
The exhibition runs until the 1st February, 11am – 6pm daily.

Keith and Lottie.
276 William Street
Northbridge WA 6003.

“Wuthering Shanghai”