Artist Profile

Artist Profile is a fresh, imaginative magazine recording the personalities of leading artists and rising art stars that fill the visual arts and inspire a new generation of art lover. The magazine features intimate studio portraits, artists' working environments, leading opinion writers, previews of major public gallery exhibitions, feature articles on international artists and events, book reviews and more.

NICHOLAS THOMPSON GALLERY

Contributors

Editor’s Note • Artist Profile acknowledges the Gadigal people of the Eora Nation, the traditional owners of the land on which we work.

FAST AND CURIOUS VAN GOGH ALIVE • ON LONDON’S NATIONAL GALLERY WEBSITE THERE IS A TWENTY-NINE MINUTE VIDEO OF A TALK GIVEN BY COLIN WIGGINS, THE GALLERY’S SPECIAL PROJECTS CURATOR. HE TALKED ABOUT VAN GOGH’S LIFE AND WORK, ANCHORED AROUND THE ARTIST’S 1888 PAINTING SUNFLOWERS WHICH HANGS ON THE GALLERY WALL BEHIND HIM. THROUGH DROLL HUMOUR, INFORMED ANECDOTE AND YEARS OF ACCUMULATED KNOWLEDGE, WIGGINS’ TALK MOVED AT A STEADY UNRUSHED PACE.

ANONYMOUS • Vestigial zones are all around us

Seeing Myself in Objects Claudia Greathead • CLAUDIA GREATHEAD SEES THE WORLD AROUND HER AS DISTANT AND UNFAMILIAR. SHE PAINTS HER INNER WORLD AS A CHARACTER, NESTLED INSIDE A CONTAINER, A FLOWER OR A TOOTH. HER PAINTINGS ARE FIGURATIVELY LOOSE AND GESTURAL, A JARRING MIX OF PASTEL AND MURKY COLOURS PACKED ONTO THE CANVAS WITH LITTLE BREATHING SPACE.

CHRISTOPHER HODGES • THE EFFORTLESS APPEARANCE OF CHRISTOPHER HODGES’ SCULPTURES AND PAINTINGS IS HARD WON. EVERY LINE, EVERY ANGLE, AND EVERY GESTURE IN HIS WORK HAS PASSED THROUGH THE CRUCIBLE OF ARTISTIC SCRUTINY. ARTIST PROFILE SAT DOWN WITH HODGES TO SCRUTINISE THIS SCRUTINY AND DISCUSS THE ART OF ABSTRACTION.

BILL HENSON Generative Gaps • SINCE HIS FIRST SOLO SHOW AT THE NATIONAL GALLERY OF VICTORIA IN 1975, BILL HENSON HAS BEEN CAPTIVATED BY THE LIMINAL, THE EVASIVE, AND THE IN-BETWEEN. TRAVERSING COOL GREY ZONES INCLUDING ADOLESCENCE AND SUBURBIA, HIS PHOTOGRAPHIC IMAGES OFFER NEITHER CONCLUSIONS NOR CONDOLENCES TO AUDIENCES WHO SENSE A MYSTERY AT WORK BENEATH THEIR BEAUTIFUL SURFACES.

Tira Walsh Push & Pull • TIRA WALSH’S PRACTICE ENLIVENS PAINTERLY ABSTRACTION THROUGH AN ENERGETIC AND EXPERIMENTAL APPROACH TO MARK-MAKING. WORKING ACROSS NUMEROUS CANVASES SIMULTANEOUSLY, WALSH CREATES AN IMMERSIVE STUDIO ENVIRONMENT, SHAPED BY A RHYTHM OF SPONTANEITY AND PHYSICALITY. OFTEN PRODUCED IN SERIES, THE ROBUST ENERGY OF WALSH’S PAINTINGS REFLECTS THE FRENETIC ECLECTICISM OF THE URBAN ENVIRONMENT THAT INSPIRES HER.

John von Sturmer A Man for all Seasons • JOHN VON STURMER IS A SOCIAL ANTHROPOLOGIST WITH A LONG AND DISTINGUISHED CAREER IN ABORIGINAL STUDIES. HE HAS BEEN A CENTRAL PARTICIPANT IN MANY KEY EVENTS AND ISSUES INCLUDING URANIUM MINING IN WESTERN ARNHEM LAND AND THE WIK NATIVE TITLE CLAIM. SINCE THE MID–1990S, HE HAS HAD AN INCREASING CREATIVE INVOLVEMENT IN PAINTING, INSTALLATION AND PERFORMANCE.

Fiona Foley Carving out her own space • FIONA FOLEY IS AN ARTIST FROM THE WONDUNNA CLAN OF THE BADTJALA NATION, WHOSE ACCLAIMED ARTS PRACTICE HAS BEEN WIDELY EXHIBITED ACROSS AUSTRALIA AND INTERNATIONALLY FOR OVER THIRTY YEARS. NOW A DISTINGUISHED ACADEMIC AT GRIFFITH UNIVERSITY, HER LATEST BOOK BITING THE CLOUDS (2020) WEAVES RIGOROUS RESEARCH WITH ART TO EXAMINE LEGACIES OF HARMFUL LEGISLATION, DISRUPTING NATIONAL MYTHOLOGIES OF AUSTRALIA.

Henry Curchod Eyes Without a Face • LOOKING INTO THE FACE OF A HENRY CURCHOD PAINTING CAN BE A TIPSY EXPERIENCE; LIKE YOU’RE ABOUT TO DEPART YOUR PHYSICAL BODY AND ENTER SOME AMBIGUOUS INTERIOR WORLD. ARTIST PROFILE ASKS WHAT GROUNDS HENRY DURING THESE DIZZYING EXCURSIONS.

Olga CIRONIS Uniting Voices • COLLECTING STORIES OTHERWISE UNHEARD AND REPURPOSING MATERIALS OTHERWISE UNWANTED,...