“You’re not anybody in America unless you’re on TV. On TV is where we learn about who we really are. Because what’s the point of doing anything worthwhile if nobody’s watching? And if people are watching, it makes you a better person.”
– Suzanne Stone Maretto, (To Die For, 1995, Gus Van Sant)
In 2011, Oprah Winfrey flew 302 members of her American studio audience to the land Down Under. Her endeavour seemed to crystallise all of society’s preoccupations, obsessions and aspirations into a good ol’ fashioned chinwag: expertly documented and conveniently presented as a four-episode long televisual saga called Oprah’s Ultimate Australian Adventure.
Talk Show is a two-part exhibition – staged first at MOP Projects, and then at Kudos Gallery – co-curated by Sandra Di Palma and JD Reforma – that brings together the work of seven contemporary Australian artists. Each has been invited to respond, simply, to Oprah Winfrey: anything and everything that she is and represents to society.
Through their work, artists Anney Bounpraseuth, David Capra, Mitchel Cumming, Elliot Hughes, Daniel McKewen, Giselle Stanborough and Skye Wagner investigate the social, cultural, economic and political implications of one of the most powerful public figures of the 20th century.
Sandra Di Palma is a Sydney-based administrator and curator with an interest in emerging and contemporary practices. She has studied a Bachelor of Art Theory and Master of Art Administration at the College of Fine Arts, University of NSW. Sandra has worked for the Biennale of Sydney, Kudos Gallery, Tin Sheds Gallery, and was a founding member of The Paper Mill Gallery, Sydney. In 2012 Sandra worked as Exhibitions Manager for SafARI, Sydney. She is currently the Administrative and Executive Assistant at Artspace, Sydney. She has also curated a selection of exhibitions including For the Lulz (2011), and WUNDERPOND (2012), at the Tin Sheds Gallery, Sydney, and Saundering Cahoots (2013) at Firstdraft Gallery, Sydney.
JD Reforma is a Sydney-based artist, writer and curator, and a current Master of Fine Arts Research candidate at the College of Fine Arts, University of NSW. His work encompasses sculpture, performance, installation, photography and video, and has been widely exhibited in solo and group exhibitions in artist-run spaces including Firstdraft Gallery, Gaffa, Alaska Projects, The Paper Mill, 55 Sydenham Road, Casula Powerhouse Arts Centre and MOP Projects. 2013 will see his work exhibited at Mosman Art Gallery, Kudos Gallery and Campbelltown Arts Centre. He is currently a Co-Director of Firstdraft Gallery, Sydney.
Disorient (Gallery 2)
Yanni Pounartzis
Until September 8
Yanni Pounartzis is entirely unapologetic about wearing his heart on his sleeve with his latest body of work and exhibition. It is intrinsically motivated by and linked to the artist’s experiences with intense loss and the meditations of a man who has arguably borne his fair share.
An acrimonious divorce led to the well-trodden path by many Australian parents, mostly fathers – into the dark and tangled web of custodial/family law and a decidedly unjust justice system.
In 2010, he lost custody of his 9-year-old son. After three futile years, Pounartzis decided to reveal his private turmoil and devote a series of paintings to his journey of grief and frustration. It’s not only a very public homage to his son, but also a tribute to all parents who have lost children through an imperfect system.
Each one of the reflective canvases represents between 150 and 300 hours of meticulous fine line work. The compositions are speedy and spontaneous, but the brushwork is meticulous and considered – part catharsis, part long, elaborate storytelling.
He says: “It’s an exhilarated, tragic experience. But amid the chaos, there is harmony and hope that the truth will prevail …”
The artist has made a very deliberate choice to not work this theme in a figurative sense. For him, it’s about creating an energy and an emotional maze that a viewer can follow and feel.
Yanni Pounartzis is a 44 year-old Sydney-based artist. For the past 15 years, he has been working as a Creative Director in Advertising where he has won numerous international awards including Cannes Lions.
In 2007, Yanni returned to painting at the National Art School, where he trained in abstract painting. Yanni held his first solo exhibition, The Deconstructions, in November 2012 at the Global Gallery in Paddington, Sydney. In The Deconstructions, Yanni focuses on perspectival investigations.
Yanni’s work was recently featured on Artscape, ABC, hosted by Andrew Frost in his two-part series on The A-Z of Contemporary Art.
