ARTRAVELIFE .com

Jul 2011

David Aspden X 2

Australia’s legendary abstract painter David Aspden is up not once but twice in Sydney, writes Susie Burge

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It’s arguably long overdue: a major exhibition at the Art Gallery of NSW of the late great David Aspden’s paintings, drawings, collages and prints. It’s a joy to visit: the rooms zing with great blocks and dancing shapes and shifting daubs of colour. The works are taken from the Gallery’s holdings, augmented through generous gifts by Karen Aspden, David’s widow.
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Chelsea Art Walk, New York

For any ATL readers lucky enough to be in NYC, tonight (July 28, 5-8pm) is the second annual Chelsea Art walk. This is my absolute favourite gallery district in my favourite art city. This year it’s gone ballistic. Over 125 art spaces (many in gritty industrial cavernous warehouses) hosting edgy exhibitions, artist talks, drinks, canapés, music, performances - from pop-up skate shops to ping pong and art-inspired icecream sandwiches …. WISH I was there.

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www.artwalkchelsea.com has provided a map on the site as a PDF. Download mandatory. It’s the perfect pocket gallery guide for your next trip to New York.

- Susie Burge


Count down to Splendour

New media artist Jordana Maisie gets ready for lift off at this year’s Splendour in the Grass

Yes people, it’s a rock festival, but Australia’s Splendour in the Grass (July 29-31) has always had a strong, unconventional visual art component. This year - the 11th anniversary - it just got bigger.

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The Stylist's Guide to NYC

Sibella Court’s ‘The Stylist’s Guide to NYC’ reviewed by ATL

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Global gypsy Sibella Court does everything with individual, charismatic flair. From her signature dress sense (think campaign style - cashmere shawl, panama hat, canvas luggage), to her shop The Society Inc in Sydney’s Paddington (chock full of bowerbird finds, from bell jars to bedheads), her imaginative shoots for glossy magazines, interiors (including a lighthouse installation for New York’s Anthropologie, the very cool rope-hung Ms G’s restaurant in Sydney) to her smart-looking books. Her first, Etcetera won design awards, garnered a cult following, and sold out its first print run on release. The Stylist’s Guide to NYC is her second book, and a slightly trickier proposition. Yes, it’s beautiful to look at and hold (in a distinctively Sibella Court way, with a tactile hardcover, brown paper flyleaf, matt stock, and organic, notebook design) but it’s also challenging to categorise. Is it a travel guide? Or is it for people who live in New York? Or for those planning a move to NYC? Or all of the above? Do categories even matter?
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Two Day Pass

The Inaugural Art Setouchi in Japan and new paintings by Australian Artist Angus Nivison

2-day-pass We spent days on the islands, and between them, crossing the sea in a haze of heat so extreme it turned everything closer to white, water and sky; snatching pockets of time, time in between, transit time; time to rest, recover, people watch, stare at the sea, process what we’d seen. Time to get cool with a Pocari Sweat or Kirin or Black Mountain coffee can or any of about 20 different kinds of drinks from the amazing vending machines. With our trusty marine passes tucked with our Setouchi Art Passports in a plastic sleeve slung across the tegaki tied around our necks. On the ferries, we took the time to relax, being part of something larger. Yes, we were gaijin, and yes, we were inarticulate and felt often (hilariously) clumsy but, like the thousands of Japanese on the festival trail with us, we were art tourists. In the days we were there, we rarely saw other foreigners. Read More...