Artists Represented

The city of Melbourne is my Muse. Melbourne is also my adoptive city. I came to Australia in 1964 from Chioggia, Venice, Italy. I started my Architectural studies at R.M.I.T. I graduated in Architecture in 1975 and registered as an Architect in 1976. Melbourne changed a lot since the late seventies. The transformation of the city in the last two decades is beyond what anyone could have ever imagined. I now look at Melbourne from an artist’s perspective: How buildings impact on their immediate surroundings and on the city itself and how the old and the new stand side by side. Do they change the historical character of the street? Does the human get lost in this new environment? Etc, etc. I think my paintings will speak for themselves and the viewers will see them from their own personal perspectives. That’s the beauty of Art.

Antonio Balletta works in a variety of media, large graphite drawings, oil painting s and bronze sculpture. His images are skillfully rendered, elaborately staged works that use quiet drama, subtle expression as well as visceral symbolism as a conduit for both personal and universal narratives. By emphasizing aesthetics, he wants to amplify the astonishment of the spectator, he creates compositions or settings that generate poetic images which ;balance on the edge of recognition and the subconscious. The images are an invitation into a story. Much of the symbolism derives from a synthesis of personal experience. Over the years he has developed a vocabulary of potent signs, each one iconic in its connection with humanity. Flowers, branches, boats, nests, kangaroos and other curious creatures populate his work. While his symbols imply tangible things he urges us to interpret them through our own experiences and mixed bag of memories. A branch may represent life’s forked and tenuous path yet it may also evoke metaphors for growth and energy, while the flowers can be read as repositories for feminine power, fertility and life’s transient beauty. The man in so many of his images represents himself, his sons and every man. His works appear as dreamlike images in which fiction and reality meet, allegories merge, meanings shift and the present fuses. Balletta's art inveigles us into its world through optimism for life journey. It makes us want to enter into the artists dialogue and decipher its allegorical tales. &

Antonio Muratore

I am interested in the uniqueness of interpreted reality where the human form or the environment is the context and the catalyst for response. I choose to use, interpret and manipulate the human form as subject matter because I want to acknowledge that the Human Form is fundamental in art, and that abstraction is meaningless without an implied Human Form. I find that abstraction, perspective, distortion etc, fail when they do not act as devices for reaching an expressive climax and I understand that abstraction cannot be an end in itself because it cannot exist out of a defined context. My art's practice is concerned with interpreting and distilling figurationinto a succinct narrative to express a sense of actuality, intimacy and immediacyof beliefs and emotions.

Artist Statement- ‘Beatitude’ is a collection of my latest body of paintings, bringing together several themes I have previously explored in my work over the years. Before I began to put energy toward this exhibition, I had no specific aim or established direction. My only aim was to loosen up and return to early times of being fearless and adventurous. I had only one strict rule...that I would not care about the image so much and that it flowed from my brushes and pallet knives. The works came together on their own from this. The objects I chose to paint and draw were all intrinsically intertwined in my mind, meaning that they are all connected somehow in my understanding and appreciation of them. They overlapped and swam around in my thoughts for years. They are things that bring me wonder and joy. Quite by accident three clear themes emerged from the body of work. The first theme to emerge is my love of the natural world, being the living plants on earth. Nature is utterly wonderful. I have an affinity for nature's colours, patterns, and organic flowing lines. I love the asymmetry. Each element is a complex and a perfect mathematical algorithm. As with most subjects I draw and paint, I cannot help but zoom in and magnify them. I am instinctively drawn in close to my subject. I crop objects tightly, looking for an intimate understanding of line and form. I don't have any interest in painting rolling hills or sweeping clouds. For me, zooming out would miss so much of the "good stuff". I can't help but focus in on one part of an object and tend to draw things quite large. I want to get as close to the action as possible. I fix my eyes firmly and it's as though I am relying on the sensation of touch, even though it's really only my eyes that are seeing. I try to stay honest in my work and have the courage to make honest mistakes. I draw lines that may be incorrect, which I then redraw and rub away. I also try to capture the splendour, the colours, the light etc. elements that give me joy. I try to share them with the viewer. The second theme that emerged is the gift of fruit. Without thinking too much about it I am always in awe of this miracle. It gravitates around fertility, sustenance, and goodness. The fruits of the earth are amazing and plentiful. It breaks my heart to think that these fruits are not evenly distributed. For me, the cycle of life on earth (as opposed to surrounding dead planets) is mind blowing. "Ancient Fruit" (sketch of a pomegranate) is an ode to this millennia old cycle as well as a subtle reference to knowledge, consciousness, rebirth and original sin. Lemons and limes are everyday fruit but equally worthy of being painted as divine objects. I have placed them front and center as such. The third theme to emerge in these works is my ongoing affinity to the humble vessel. These simple lines depicting a container or bowl have many deep undertones for me. The vessel represents an object that contains things, be it water, fruit, food etc... These images can be perceived by the viewer as empty or ready to hold the harvest. I gravitate toward this object for the essential role it has in our lives. It holds our daily meals, stores and preserves crops and water or taking the idea further, lakes and oceans are contained, and ultimately life itself is somewhat contained within the stratosphere. These paintings are echoes of the concept in my mind, of "holding", yield, plenitude and emptiness. I hope you enjoy the energy in this show. It was completely enjoyable painting it. Camillo De Luca

Christopher Raynor's current series of paintings is a contemplation on the themes of family, home, and the journey of memories. Looking at a pile of old Persian carpets brought back memories of Raynor’s upbringing living with his Viennese parents. Both families had left Austria during wartime transporting as much of their Viennese life as they could to Australia. Amongst their belongings are a set of Persian carpets. In this body of work, we begin the artistic journey with the Persian carpets as a point of entry, acting as both a literal and symbolic portal into the lives, objects, and places that constitute the essence of familial bonds. As viewers engage with these paintings, we are invited to indulge in the sumptuous realm of rich colours and textures that these carpets embody – patterns and motifs that are not solely ornamental, but laden with significance. Beneath the opulent surface lies a deeper layer of meaning, one that encapsulates the memories of generations past and present. These carpets have borne witness to a life once lived in Vienna, Austria, and the subsequent journey to an unfamiliar land. Within the tapestry of Raynor's artistry, the carpets do not merely confine themselves to the physical realm. They manifest on the canvas as textured landscapes interwoven with intricate patterns, colours, and shapes, each contributing to a kaleidoscope of scenes that mirror the multifaceted tapestry of life. These scenes are vignettes of existence – fragments of time that collectively weave a narrative of shared experiences and cherished moments. As we gaze at the brushwork and the interplay of colours, we inevitably find ourselves reflecting on our own personal journeys and experiences. The layers of paint become layers of memory, and just like the passage of time, the canvas holds a unique collection of moments frozen in vibrant pigments. We are reminded of the beauty and complexity of family, the emotional resonance of home, and the enduring legacy of memories.

Artist’s Statement David Freney-Mills – Gallery Elysium 2021 Through his paintings, Melbourne artist David Freney-Mills explores the visual properties of text. He does this via painting layers of ink on Mulberry paper, choosing a single word for each painting. Through fragmenting and repeating the text he creates abstract arrangements that convey a sense of flux and transformation. Freney-Mills’ paintings are akin to organisms made up of accumulated layers and traces of decisions. In different paintings the text overlaps in chance combinations, weaving throughout the atmospheric surfaces created by the artist. Freney-Mills uses text to represent matter and it’s shifting nature as a vehicle for energy. The text is also evocative of human consciousness in a state of constant re-invention, absorbing perceptions of colours and light from the outside world while also focused within it’s inner space, both outer and inner worlds have frontiers for awareness to push into, in both directions a void is contemplated, not a sterile void but one fertile with possibilities from which all forms, all ideas and realizations come.

Mythos. An exhibition by Elio Sanciolo. Introduction Ever since we as humans developed a sense of ourselves as rational creatures with a need to understand our purpose and individual and collective place in relation to the world, we have wondered about the nature of existence and how things came to be as they are. Our individual and collective life experiences inform us about what we can actually know about the world in detail at any particular moment in time, but there are things beyond our direct perception due to the innate limitations of our senses, that we can never fully understand, or know at all with any certainty. The indistinct, and mysterious void that exists between our certainty about the world and what we can only infer about the world indirectly is the domain of myth and religion, and it is this nebulous area that I chose to explore for this last of a series of exhibitions dealing with time, perception, and memory. In this instance, cultural memory. As was the case in the previous two exhibitions (‘Future Memories’ and ‘Opus’) , I was not concerned so much with exploring what we see, but rather how we perceive, recall, and construct our experiences of the world, through the filter of culture, time, and memory. In order to do this, I looked at narratives and characters taken from the products of our collective cultural memory as memorialized in myth as a source of compositional inspiration. Hence the name and theme of this exhibition.

“I use painting as a tool to explore and play with ideas and connect me to culture and history. I do this to discover who and what I am, the nature of the world and my place in.” 'The artistic process is the distillation of conscious and unconscious experience through the filter of the body which is in turn embedded in a transient reality.'

“I use painting as a tool to explore and play with ideas and connect me to culture and history. I do this to discover who and what I am, the nature of the world and my place in.” 'The artistic process is the distillation of conscious and unconscious experience through the filter of the body which is in turn embedded in a transient reality.'

‘OPUS’

An exhibition by Elio Sanciolo

Artist Statement

Background.

As the title suggests, this exhibition is based on music. As a painter I have always been fascinated by music. My childhood was full of it. My parents blessed me with musical experiences that have ingrained themselves so deeply in my mind and heart that I cannot remember a time when music was not present. Music is ,in many ways, the supreme artform as it transcends culture, language, subject-matter and the need to objectively represent something for it to be understood, appreciated, and felt. In of itself, the use of music by visual artists in creating their work is not an original idea. Many visual artists, have at some stage, found the urge to refer to or comment on music as a source of inspiration and emotional release in their work. So why did I choose music as a general theme for the current exhibition? To answer this, I will need to briefly refer to my previous ‘Future Memories’ show which dealt with our understanding of time and its relation to our perception and understanding of the world. In preparation for that exhibition, I came across philosophical and scientific writings on the nature of Time and consciousness which postulated that all actions/events exist simultaneously and are only perceived to be sequentially and causally ordered in time by the limitations of our conscious mind, which somehow, filters through and organizes matter and events in a hierarchical sequential fashion to make sense of the world. In response to this theory, I sought to develop a visual language which would help me communicate this idea in an intelligible way. I ended up creating a series of works on canvas depicting the human form and other figurative elements on overlapping transparent pages signifying slices of temporal experience represented by rectilinear divisions on the picture plane. This pictorial device allowed for the construction and reading of an image on a metaphorical basis. It wasn’t long after my exhibition was over that I was looking at a score of a Beethoven symphony, and I was struck with the notion that musical compositions that involve two or more instruments could be viewed as a natural extension of the original insights which drove the creation of the works in my previous show.

Rationale.

Just like our perception of ‘reality’, symphonic scores, or multi-instrumental musical pieces, are constructed of different layers. These layers consist of the different individual parts written for the various instruments and sections in the Orchestra whose job it is, to amalgamate the various parts into a comprehensible whole. This is achieved by superimposing, coordinating, and playing each separate instrumental part over the others with related time signatures so that the resulting sound follows a consistent logic and ‘narrative’. Another interesting observation I made, was that the conventions used in the recording of musical concepts onto a physical score force the composer to conceive of the composition as a series of separate elements tied to an original foundational melodic or rhythmical idea, that are then brought together in real time by the performers in one unified expression of sound, to be finally interpreted by the listener. In other words, to effectively communicate ideas to the performers, and through them eliciting an emotional response in the audience, the composer has no choice but to dissect the original musical idea into a myriad of separate parts, each highlighting a different aspect of the subject at the heart of the music, and then have the musicians reintegrate them into a new multifaceted whole so that the audience can absorb, interpret, and appreciate the totality of the music.

Approach.

With this in mind, I approached the creation of a series of works in this current exhibition in the same way as a composer would approach the construction of a symphonic score. Layer by layer and free of the restrictions imposed by the need to produce an overly literal interpretation of the subject but keeping the overall aesthetic integrity intact. To do this, I resolved to use the central figurative components consisting of the human form and landscape elements as compositional devices designed to centre the composition and give the viewer a way into exploring the images embedded in the various layers of the painting. I approached this in much the same way as a composer may use a melodic line to draw the listener emotionally into the music. The figurative elements were going to be my melody and use of color and line used to set the rhythm. Each individual work in this exhibition was initially inspired by my personal response to a given piece of music and then allowed to develop in its own organic direction. As I progressed from painting to painting, and depending on the original musical source, I found that the figurative elements in some works would dissolve into the overall design or be totally subdued by areas of color to the point where they would only leave a trace of their original imprint, thereby giving the impression from a distance of a total abstraction, that when closely inspected, revealed its figurative origins so that the viewer is forced to move from the surface , through the various layers of the painting to the drawing underneath and then back to the surface again. I attempted, through simultaneously emphasizing both opposite abstract and figurative qualities, to create a harmonious tension between literal meaning and metaphoric interpretation, which to my mind, approximates how music itself works and is able to satisfy the rational mind whilst imbedding itself in the heart. Elio Sanciolo March, 2023.

The questions occur. How to paint nothing? What does it mean to paint nothing? What does it mean to paint a void?

GIUSEPPINA GRAZIANO Profile: I am an Italian/Australian self-taught abstract artist living in Melbourne since 2010, with a passion for art in general and painting since teenagerhood but have been actively pursuing my artistic interests in more recent times. Pollock, Kandinsky, and Boccioni are major influences on my artwork. My artworks mainly represent states of mind and personal association of colours with emotions and natural elements. I mainly explore the use of acrylic, gold leaves and crushed glass in my abstract paintings, using palette knives predominantly, sponges, glitters, and several accessories. I have a strong interest in the study of communication and foreign languages including English, Spanish, French, and German. I work full-time as a secondary school language teacher of Italian and as an Instructional/Literacy Coach at Penola Catholic College. Latin dancing, running, cooking and ten-pin bowling are other major hobbies.

I let myself go, apply marks, streaks, splashes of colors onto the canvas, to make them resonate with all the intensity that can be imagined.

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Artist Statement: Eros in the pandemic nights During the lockdown last year, every night I watched numerous operas through online free streaming service. Mostly they were melodramas about love, desire, betrayal, revenge, death and so forth. Interestingly, watching them helped me not only to get out of the strong sense of isolation, but also to have opportunities to think deeply about ‘the self-myself’ and ‘the other’, and the relationship between them. In the daytime, I made a bunch of paintings which were eventually about Eros. I imagined a perfect erotic, noble and flawless love. The object of love is the eternal other I can never reach. ‘Eros’ is one of my paintings inspired by stories and music of the operas. Lovers float in the air like twinkling stars in night sky. They are full of desire but know they can never own ‘the other’. The music that resonates in the night sky is sweet and mysterious. Jaedon Shin, July 2021

Ted May - Artist The paintings of Ted May bridge many historical classifications, but they transcend any contemporary taxonomic interpretation. His study at East Sydney Technical College (now the National Art School in Sydney, Australia) in the early 1960s coincided with a time when Australian art was undergoing a shift; modernism had held strongly for two decades and abstract expressionism from the New York scene was starting to have an influence. Some artists rejected these new ideas, and May's formative years in this period were undoubtedly shaped by the discourse, but he and some of his Australian counterparts rejected the developing trends and concentrated on developing a style of painting that was unique and idiosyncratic. While the lines of expressionism and the intellectual minimalism of abstraction are evident throughout May's oeuvre, his signature 'drawings with paint' have remained resolute for 50 years. Unweighted by trends, they express an artistic freedom which has evolved through decades of faithful studio practice. Name: Ted May Qualifications: Diploma of Fine Art National Art School, Sydney Occupation: Full time artist - painter, draughtsman and soft sculptor Previously: Lectured at the VCA, RMIT, & Monash University Caulfield Campus, Melbourne and the National Art Schools, Sydney and Newcastle, NSW. CV Art Prize Exhibitions 2014 Shortlisted Black Swan Portrait Prize Perth WA 2014 Shortlisted Benalla Nude Prize Benalla Art Gallery, Vic 2012 Shortlisted Geelong Contemporary Art Prize Geelong Gallery, Vic 2012 Shortlisted Percival Xstrata Portrait Prize Perc Tucker, Townsville Qld2011 By Invitation Kedumba Drawing Prize Wentworth Falls, NSW2010 Awarded X Strata Portrait Prize Perc Tucker, Townsville Qld 2009 Shortlisted Gallipoli Memorial Art Prize Gallipoli Club, Sydney, NSW2009 Shortlisted Sulman Art Prize Art Gallery NSW2008 Shortlisted JADA Drawing Prize Grafton, NSW2008 Shortlisted Robert Jacks Drawing Prize Bendigo Art Gallery, Vic 2007 Shortlisted ANL Maritime Art Prize Melbourne, Vic 2007 Shortlisted Waterhouse Natural History Art Prize Museum of SA, SA 2007 Shortlisted Dominique Segan Drawing Prize Castlemaine, Vic 2006 Awarded ANL Maritime Art Prize Melbourne, Vic 2006 Shortlisted Doug Moran National Portrait Prize State Library NSW 2002 Shortlisted Dobell Art Prize Art Gallery NSW 1997 Shortlisted Sulman Art Prize Art Gallery NSW 1996 Shortlisted Wynne Art Prize Art Gallery NSW1986 Awarded Gold Coast Art Prize Gold Coast, Qld 1967 Awarded Maitland Prize (Abstract Painting) Maitland, NSW 1966 Awarded Maitland Prize (Figurative Painting) Maitland, NSW Selected Solo and Group Exhibitions 2021 Art UK: From Stage to canvas: Shakespeare in art 2020 Shakespeare Birthplace Trust: Shakespeare Week Portrait Exhibition 2019 Bendigo Art Gallery: The Paul Guest Collection Group Exhibition 2015 Sydney Contemporary 2015 Gallerysmith, Melbourne: Wundergarten 2013 Melbourne University: Festival of Ideas Group Exhibition 2013 Gallerysmith, Melbourne: Pentimenti 2012 Gallerysmith, Melbourne: Tomb Raider 2011 Light Factory Gallery, Eltham: Drawings and master classes 2010 Perc Tucker Gallery, Townsville: The Forlorn Hope Series 2010 Gallerysmith, Melbourne: Wild Things 2009 JADA Drawing Prize Touring Exhibition (2009 & 2010) Group Exhibition 2009 Ballarat Art Gallery: Eureka Translated 2009 Ballarat Art Gallery: Reclaiming Group Exhibition 2008 BenaIla Regional Art Gallery: Face of Shakespeare 2008 Ballarat Art Gallery: The Forlorn Hope Series 2007 John Paynter Gallery@ The Lockup, Newcastle: Face of Shakespeare 2007 Tsai-Mo Arts Festival, Taiwan: International Group Exhibition 2006 Michael Commerford Galleries, Sydney: Drawings 2006 VIII World Shakespeare Congress, Brisbane: Face of Shakespeare 2005 John Miller Galleries, Newcastle: Figurative Works 2005 Shakespeare Festival, Melbourne: Face of Shakespeare 2002 Studio/ Warehouse, Melbourne: A Return to the Figure 2000 M.A.C. Gallery, Melbourne 1996 Peter Gant Fine Art, Melbourne 1992 Solander Gallery, Canberra 1990 Kim Bonython Gallery, Sydney 1987 Robin Gibson Gallery, Sydney 1986 Barberino val D'Elsa, Florence, Italy 1985 Niagara Gallery, Melbourne 1984 Rudy Komon Gallery, Sydney (Group) 1983 Heide Museum of Modern Art - Figures & Faces Drawn from Life (Group) Public Art Collections Art UK Chartwell Collection, Auckland Art Gallery, NZ National Gallery of Victoria Heide Museum of Modern Art MOMA, Melbourne, VIC Ballarat Art Gallery, VIC Owen Dixon Chambers, Melbourne VIC Perc Tucker Regional Gallery, Townsville QLD Shakespeare Birthplace Trust, Stratford upon Avon Australian Embassy Saudi Arabia Peter McCallum Cancer Clinic, Melbourne VIC ANL, Melbourne BHP Melbourne Melbourne, La Trobe, RMIT and Victoria Universities, VIC Conrad Jupiter Casino, QLD Hilton Hotel, Perth WA Western Australia Institute Technology, WA Selected Biographical References The Paul Guest Collection- Publisher: Bendigo Art Gallery- 2019 What did Shakespeare really look like? Writer: Lydia Figes Publisher: ART UK 2019 Ted May and ''The Forlorn Hope" with excerpts from the journal of J P Stow- Editor: Anna Monument- 2008 The New McCulloch's Encyclopedia of Australian Art- Publisher: Miegunyah Press- 2006 International Tsai- Mo Art Festival- Publisher: Taichung Cultural Affairs Bureau Taiwan - 2005, 2006, 2007 The Human Face is the Landscape of the Viewers' and Artist's Mind- Yenobek No.5- 95. U.S.S.R. – 1995 Profiles in Contemporary Australian Art- New Art Four. Publisher: Craftsman House- 1990 Artists and Galleries of Australia- Volumes 1 and 2. 3rd Edition. Max Germaine, Publisher: Craftsmen Press- 1990 Drawn from Life. Figures and Faces. Editor: Elizabeth Cross, Publisher: Heide Park & Art Gallery – 1983