Getting the picture - HSC art exhibition moves away from dark themes
Sydney Morning Herald
Wednesday February 9, 2011
IF LIFE is getting tougher, you would not know it from the avalanche of youthful creativity that is Artexpress.The annual touring exhibition of the best work from last year's HSC visual-arts art students across the state, which opened at the Art Gallery of NSW yesterday, is moving on from the darker themes of the past and reflecting a more positive, playful approach.The show's curator, Leeanne Carr, said that when she first became involved with Artexpress almost a decade ago the students' works tended to have darker subject matter."There was a lot of teenage angst," said Carr, the gallery's co-ordinator of secondary education programs. "But now I think we've moved into this other generation [that] absorb a lot of what's around them but they're looking in a more positive way. This year, particularly, it was very upbeat, more playful and more fun ... satirical and witty."The artworks of 326 students from 180 schools will be displayed in Artexpress, which also goes to nine other metropolitan and regional locations as well as showing in shopfronts around The Rocks. (The annual display in the David Jones city store stopped two years ago.)Prominent themes among the 44 bodies of work, selected for the Art Gallery of NSW in one of its most popular annual exhibitions, include landscapes and animals on media ranging from pianola rolls to old LP records, as well as painting, installation and video art.The satirical work of Laura Wingrove, 18, reflects the lighter yet sophisticated touch permeating much of the show. For The Good Wife's Guide she has used text from a 1950s handbook for model behaviour along with her own photos to lampoon its "ridiculous" tips."It's definitely making a point about the difference between the 1950s and now, and I'm excited to be a part of that," said Wingrove, who did her HSC at Ku-ring-gai Creative Arts High School.ON SHOWWhere to see ArtexpressMETROPOLITANArt Gallery of NSWUntil April 10Hazelhurst Regional Gallery and Arts CentreUntil March 20Sydney Olympic Park Authority, Homebush Bay March 1 to April 24Around The RocksMarch 14 to April 15REGIONALNewcastle Region Art Gallery March 5 to May 8Shoalhaven City Arts Centre April 21 to June 9Goulburn Regional Art Gallery May 10 to June 21New England RegionalArt MuseumMay 20 to August 14Western Plains Cultural Centre (including Dubbo Regional Gallery)July 2 to September 4Hawkesbury Regional Gallery and Regional MuseumAugust 26 to October 16Glasshouse Regional Gallery, Port MacquarieOctober 14 to December 11
© 2011 Sydney Morning Herald