Artwalk with Yeok: Nite Art 2014

Like a good art lover, I wasn’t going to miss Nite Art 2014, one of the biggest art event in Melbourne. It was on 23 July evening and I set myself a little challenge to visit as many galleries as possible in one night, all done by walking. Please note, following video footage had slightly different mix of the shows I visited.

I went to see Tolarno Galleries‘ latest show by Peter Hennessey. They were not opening for Nite Art so I paid a visit in the afternoon prior to the evening. In short, Peter’s works were like the modern fantasy miniatures. It looked impressive with the mono tone colour and the details produced by machine – laser cut wooden pieces were assembled together with wax overlay. I was rather confused with the use of wax, as it made the surface look uneven. You might have seen Peter’s work My Hubble at Biennale of Sydney in 2010, which will give you a better idea of his fascination with spaceships. My personal favourite is his Giant Squid, I thought that was a romantic piece.

As I stepped out of Tolarno Galleries, I could see Rone‘s mural, apparently it’s the largest mural by one person in Australia. It’s still a myth to me how he could paint it perfectly without distortion, considering there is no windows or significant marks on the building (as he mentioned during an interview with me). Such a talent 🙂

This was my first visit to Gallery Funaki, I didn’t expect it to be a jewellery focused gallery, but not that I have explored much in the jewellery department anyways. They did have some interesting original pieces, but not exactly the type I would fancy. However, if you are after some original artisan jewellery, that seems to be the place to go. My favourite jeweller in Melbourne is Julia Deville (who wouldn’t), one day I will get a piece from her, I promise!

 

When you see a note like this at the front door, you know you have arrived at an artist run gallery space. Here we were at TCB Art inc., once again, I had the feeling of peeping into a group of well connected art school people. It’s the same feeling every time I visit an artist run gallery space, as if art school kids don’t want to come out and play with us. Come on guys, let’s play.

Westspace, however, never fail to amaze me. Flee-Flu by Eric Demetriou interested me the most. Sadly by the time of the night I was too tired to realise I could interact with his installation, anyone got a video of it? Anyhow, you can watch his video reel to get a sense of the work he does: interactive noise, feedbacks, motions, a fly, chainsaws … I think Eric is a little wicked.

In Ghostly Japan by Daniel Truscott was opening at Lesley Kehoe Galleries on Nite Art. I liked his sculpture work, they really stand out among today’s artists who don’t have a specific skill to offer. I had a brief chat with Daniel, he was very nice and willing to share his knowledge with me.

Flinders Lane Gallery had two shows on the night, I found myself attracted to dead things, therefore it was natural for me to appreciate Nature Mort by Michelle Molinari. (I also have an unhealthy obsession toward things in glass dooms and gravity)

I have been to Karen Woodbury Gallery more than 5 times and I still need direction to find it on the night. The space is nice, but I’m yet to figure out a word to describe the works you see there. Perhaps we should call it “the invisible gallery”, perhaps it goes along with the show they had on Nite Art: Moonlight and wax by Magda Matwiejew at Karen Woodbury Gallery.
Magda showed a collection of digital collage prints which were mostly dreamy and fairy tale like. They had some darkness within, but not exactly the sort of darkness that does it for me.

As part of Interpreting the archive, presented by Vital Signs at Blindside Gallery, we stumbled upon a mysterious performance (I’m yet to track down the performer’s name) at the higher level of Nicholas Building. Each artists were to engage with and creatively interpret the collection of the Australian Lesbian and Gay Archives, the results were quite interesting,

By the time we crawl back to Fed Square to see what No Vacancy project space had for us, we were exhausted. Modern-Classic by Shun Kawakami was neat though, perfect to end the night with.