Spring Salon Exhibition

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Posted 2019-09-11 by Tricia Ziemer ⇒ follow

There is nothing more that I like then soaring ceilings and off white painted walls. My home walls are always painted 70% Blancmange. That is French for off-white. But why this predisposition to a bland colour versus a more vibrant colour? Because it shows off my art. From a very young age, I have admired art in books, art in life, art in galleries. My very first purchase for my first apartment was art. It was a Rosamond print. I still have it. It is probably worth nothing within the true art world. But it meant everything to me. It captured my heart at that time in my life. The Tolkien era. Of course, I have matured on and so has my love of art. So my walls are very full of cherished pieces. I am officially out of wall space. So this exhibition was very hard for me, as I wanted to take a few home.

So I was quite excited to be invited to the Exhibition Opening of a new collection of artists in a gallery at Abbotsford. The Otomys Contemporary Gallery has just launched six international artists at their Spring Salon. The wonderful thing is these are fresh new faces that have never exhibited before. Altogether, the exhibition includes 14 emerging and mid-career artists. The exhibition is a feast for the eyes and the soul. I can not describe the diversity of mediums, you have to see them, and breath them.

At the launch, we were all very privileged to speak to not only the directors of the gallery but several of the artists as well. One had actually travelled from up north to be there on the night. It was an honour and a delight to see their art and gain some insights into their artistic journey.

The exhibition opening was packed which is a true testament to the gallery's standing as far as I am concerned. Art devotees are picky, so something special was on the go.

The opening night did not fail. Seven Australian artists were on show: Danielle Creenaune, Eduardo Santos, Greg Penn, Heath Newman, Lindsay Blamey, Morgan Shimeld and Nick Coulson.

Two of these are actually award-winning artists. I also discovered photography as fine art. This is an emerging trend which I think celebrates the merging of these two mediums with grand applause.

First I spoke to Greg Penn about his love of photography and how that has evolved into his fine art. He moved here from London with his wife. He said he was inspired by his art teacher, "She said whatever you do don't give up your art. Always make sure you do your art. And as I went through life, and travelled art was always there. Photography feeds into everything I do whether it is sculpture or videography. Over the last 5 years, I have been putting photography into large print form. Sometimes my inspiration is something extraordinary but sometimes it is just a cloud form in the sky, the light, and reflections."

Then I spoke to Lindsay Blamey who is a graphic designer and artist. He says, "As long as I can remember whether it was taking photos or drawing or pastels or painting or more recently creating fine art photographic works. Over the years, I find things that capture me and even though it does not look like much on its own, to me it says something. So I do an image capture and then pull on those to bring together different elements that appear mundane like industrial elements and Australian landscapes with light. Then I bring it together to make my art."

Then I spoke to artist Nicholson Coulson. He says, "I have early memories of going to the National Gallery and being inspired. In grade 8, I had exposure to the masters. I started attending art classes about 6 years ago. I love my art class, including the social aspect and I have a zone at home to paint when I am inspired. When I started I used oil on canvas, now I use board timber panels that I prepare and I love what that enables me to do with scratching, squeezes and I love being able to create layers. I love the reward of someone seeing those layers."

As I spoke to Director Megan Dicks. You could tell the passion she had for art and the art world. She started this gallery in 2010. She says, "Art for me is emotion and meaning. To add art into a home is adding that layer of meaning. It is different than adding any other thing, it is not meant to be practical. Art is thought-provoking. The most important thing as a gallery is that we are very interested in breaking down the barriers around art. We do find we have clients that come in that really engage with something but freely admit they know nothing about art. And that is what Hannah and I do is explain that art is the conversation between you and the artwork. You do not need to know art history or anything else. It is about you and your reaction to an artwork. Nothing else matters. "