This review was written by Donald Brook for the Daramalan College exhibition 17, 18, 19 September 1965 where my silkscreen prints Organic Landscape was exhibited alongside a group of works by local artists.
When you are ready to return to the Library or another space in the gallery, please press the appropriate button below.
daramalan exhibition 1965
A section of the Daramalan Exhibition.
Art review by Donald Brook
An exhibition of paintings sculpture and ceramics by Canberra artists, at Daramalan College: September 17, 18, 19.
THE difference between the work of amateur and of professional artists is to some extent obscured by the very nature of the contemporary work of art.
Not as a rule requiring great technical skill, but tending rather to exhibit small bursts of fashionable sensitivity, an occasional good minor modern work is an attainable goal for anyone.
What the amateur cannot do, and the professional can, is to bring off a success regularly. He can also stand fashionable sensibility on its head from time to time, and — most inscrutable miracle of all (ask any experienced amateur) — make some sort of a living at it. Anyone can ride a bicycle over a picture. Anyone can throw paint over one’s shoulder.
Anyone can weld junk. But
he needs to sell it, and how with its cost
is he able to do this not just
once or twice but throughout a working
lifetime?
Among the trads my favourites for their atmosphere as well as their deftness, are Peg Minty's Snow Storm, Elizabeth Anne Green's The Hillside and Alan Bowden's Paddy's River. Amongst the mods, John Ivanac's Swamp, New Guinea, R. Linkson's scabby Moonscape, and H. Roman's gaudy assemblage, Figure in a Landscape.
The mod/trad classification is not an exhaustive one. One cannot assign to it such enjoyable pictures as John Perceval's Suburban Street Scene, M. Grabowski-Sheremet's The Cossacks, Graeme John Childe's lurid, implausible Olgas at Sunset, or Peter Milton Moore's Gatehouse, Darlington School.
If I had three prizes to give they would go to Jan Brown's Bird With a Broken Leg, to Henri Le Grand's dinner service, and to Arthur Wick's incredible incandescent orange serigraph Organic Landscape. The first two are not for sale, and the last is (how long can Daramalan keep it up?) the most tempting ten guineas' worth in Canberra. Not quite single figures this year, but very nearly.
Canberra Times, Friday, 17 September 1965
