The Picks | December 2023
Change was in order: listing as many shows as could be found from across lutruwita is a nice idea, but it’s a grind and I’m unsure how useful it really is to anyone in the age of social media.
So, We’re going to try something a bit different: picks and recommendations, which will be sort of like micro-reviews. Do let us know what you think of this tactic.
First up is THE STARE on right now in the TMAG Bond store and you’re going to have to motor to catch it, but do it, because it’s an excellent show from the ever reliable Second Echo Ensemble, who consistently produce some of the finest art in lutruwita. I know of them more as a performance company, so it was a thrill to see the work they produce as makers of installations and video art. There’s the right balance between enchanting and creepy here, befitting of the Bond Store Space.
THE STARE finishes 10th of December. You have five days.
While you’re at the TMAG, take in EPOCH because it’s great, there’s some smart art and best of all it’s all new as you might want. What I like about Hobart Current is the commitment to giving artists a bit of budget and seeing what they can do. Everyone here is really run with the concept – making stuff that gets under the skin. Stay tuned for a longer bit, but for now, make sure you get to it. It’s on for a while but time slips on by.
EPOCH is on at TMAG and at various locations around Hobart, until 11th of February 2024.
One more TMAG adventure awaits: totally great artist Lucienne Rickard has reached the finale of Extinction Studies, and because Lucienne loves to push at the edges, the current creature being drawn is the entire known species of Red Handfish; there are approximately one hundred specimens of the feisty little fella, and Lucienne has decided to draw all of them. If you’ve followed Extinction Studies, you know that Lucienne has being doing highly detailed and realistic portraits of extinct and endangered living things, and then erasing them as a symbolic effort to represent biodiversity loss, species extinction and the climate crisis. The commitment is incredible: the project is now four years deep. However, all terrifyingly beautiful art must come to an end, and the project is winding up with the drawing and erasure of one hundred small fish.
I have unabashedly loved and admired this project for so many reasons, and I congratulate Lucienne on her commitment and tenacity. The final day of Extinction, when all 100 fish will be erased, is slated to be the 15th of December. I’ll be there to see this moment.
Watch Lucienne’s insta feed @luciennerickard and @tasmuseum to be in the loop.
Well worth checking out is a stellar show at Bett Gallery is A ROOM OF ONE’S OWN – WOMEN IN STILL LIFE, a massive collection of takes on the still life image by some eighteen women artists. I particularly enjoyed the work of Irene Briant, who makes found object installations with a great sense of poetry and rhythm; and the always excellent work of Nicole O’Loughlin. Nicole is a fantastic artist who has been producing excellent work for years, and these latest pieces are no exception.
Righto, see you for January. Have a fun festive whatever it is you do, give local art as gifts if you can, and try to actually relax. It’s hard but worth it.
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Cheers from Make and Do, and thanks for being here.