The Gallery will be closed from Thursday 17 – Monday 21 April inclusive and will also be closed Friday 25 April. We will be open on Tuesday 22 – Thursday 24 April in the afternoons only between 1pm – 5pm.
We look forward to welcoming you to view Guanting Li : Harmonies, a survey exhibition of atmospheric ink paintings on rice paper including large scale scrolls and more intimate sized artworks, created over the last decade. The artworks in the exhibition are a harmonious fusion of east and west; of the traditional and contemporary; of calligraphic black line and colour, both subtle and strong; a mix of quietness and the sublime. These strands all come together in Mr Li’s painting, in a scale of harmonies.
Preview the works and download the catalogue here.
Guanting Li : Harmonies opening Sat 12 April and showing until the end of May – a fusion of meticulous training in traditional Chinese ink painting with the artist’s experiences of living in Australia over the past 20 years. The exhibition brings together a survey of artworks created over the last 10 years or so, from large scale scrolls to more intimate sized works depicting the grandeur of nature; people at leisure; symbolic elements, such as the lotus flower and the natural beauty found in the everyday – from plants and petals, to human connections, and animals including a koala and joey, and birds sheltering on a branch. The works evoke an atmosphere of calm and contemplation as Guanting Li expresses the joy in finds in his subject and in his skilful use of ink and brush.
Preview the exhibition on our website and download the catalogue. A video of the opening including Guanting Li speaking about his art through a translator and a special musical performance by Deng Chong Ying on guqin will be loaded to our site in due course.
Watch videos of artists Stephen Bowers and Mark Thompson as they discuss the artworks in their current exhibitions of new ceramic work. Learn about the ornithological inspirations for the birds on Stephen’s ornate plates and how Mark has several pieces on the go at once and what drives him to keep creating. Ceramics by nature includes an element that is totally out of the artist’s control, as every time a piece enters the kiln there is an unknown factor. The artist has to be patient through the process, allowing the kiln to cool enough before seeing if everything has turned out as planned.
See our website to view the videos, preview the artworks in the exhibition and download the illustrated catalogues with essays by Leslie Ferrin and John Neylon. A video of the opening with remarks by Dr Damon Moon, prolific writer on ceramics, as well as a ceramicist himself, is also available to view.
Concurrent exhibitions now showing until 7 December : Stephen Bowers – A Conference of Birds and Mark Thompson – sine qua non.
This exhibition brings together two celebrated artists from South Australia, internationally acclaimed ceramicist, Stephen Bowers and Mark Thompson, one of Australia’s leading set and costume designers in addition to being a painter and ceramic artist. Both artists showcase ornate patterning in their work and are inspired by the history of art and design within their own unique style.
STEPHEN BOWERS Paradise Parrot (last seen November 1927) 2024 earthenware diam. 33 cm
Bowers also looks to creatures, here a flock of birds across a series of plates, portrayed in bright colours against complex, fragmented backgrounds inspired by designs from ceramics, engravings and textiles. These works speak to the idea of pattern-in-nature and nature-in-pattern and reflect on the tensions of humanity’s appropriation of the natural world for our own use, the fragments representing this broken relationship.
Internationally acclaimed ceramicist, Stephen Bowers presents a flock of birds across a series of plates, vividly portrayed in bright colours against complex, fragmented backgrounds inspired by designs from ceramics, engravings and textiles. This rich mash-up of visual ideas is playfully and skillfully rendered using meticulous brushstrokes that are imitative of industrial process. The ornate patterning inspired by the history of art and design, speaks to the idea of pattern-in-nature and nature-in-pattern and reflect on the tensions of humanity’s appropriation of the natural world for our own use, the fragments representing this broken relationship.
Mark Thompson A juggling Pug 2024 earthenware, decal, gold lustre
Mark Thompson, one of Australia’s leading set and costume designers in addition to being a painter and ceramic artist, showcases ornate patterning in his work, inspired by the history of art and design within his own unique style. In this current exhibition, Thompson utilises the sculptural form of the bust for many of his fantastical works, with decorative elements and characteristic theatrical flourish. Another reference is the tradition of ceramic creatures, including the wonderful Juggling Pug with links to the Order of the Pug, established in Bavaria around 1740 with resulting porcelain commissions of that time.
Preview the exhibitions and download the illustrated catalogues with essays by Leslie Ferrin, Director Ferrin Contemporary, USA and John Neylon, Australian arts writer.
Lauraine Diggins Fine Art is participating at the AAADA Sydney Fair at Paddington Town Hall 7 – 10 November. The Gallery will be staffed during this time for visitors to the Stephen Bowers and Mark Thompson exhibitions, although you may wish to ring to confirm your visit time 03 9509 9855.
Although our exhibition centres on John Dent’s paintings, we are excited to be able to show and offer a selection of his etchings, the limited holdings of the artist’s own studio. Dent’s time in Paris allowed him to build on his printmaking skills and techniques at the premier printmaking studio Lacourière Frélaut.
Dent’s etchings are often on a grand scale with intricate and experimental use of line and texture, from a simple lightly scratched line to a rich use of stippling and patterning.
Some of the smaller sized monochrome works have a lovely immediacy, an artist capturing a mood and atmosphere of place.
Dent’s prints reveal his skilled technique, bold use of colour, interest in patterning and the unusual viewpoint of the assembled everyday objects encountered in an interior, all presented with a strong decorative element.
To read further and take A Closer Look At… John Dent’s etchings – please click here.
John Dent: Recent Paintings is now showing throughout July 2024. To preview a selection of works and download the e-catalogue or watch a video of the opening please see our website www.diggins.com.au
For those around Australia with a public holiday on 10 June, we hope you enjoy a long weekend. We look forward to welcoming you to the Gallery from Tuesday 11 to view our current exhibition of paintings by John Dent, showing until the end of June.
With his wide variety of interests, significant mentors and travel experiences, especially time spent in France, Dent has built a successful art career over the past 50 years and is always looking and always learning. Some of his paintings bear a clearer influence of a particular artist or movement, perhaps Baldessin here or Bonnard there, but each work is distinctly Dent.
Watch the video of the exhibition opening with remarks by Peter Perry OAM, former Director of the Castlemaine Art Gallery and currently working on a publication of John Dent’s art.
Hilda Rix Nicholas exhibition installation at LDFA
Our exhibition of paintings and drawings by Hilda Rix Nicholas is now on show after a crowded opening attended by the artist’s granddaughter, Bronwyn Wright and with introductory words by Dr Gerard Vaughan AM, former Director of the National Gallery of Australia and the National Gallery of Victoria. A video of this illuminating speech is available to view on our website, where you can also download the illustrated catalogue and read further about the artist with an essay by Dr Sarah Engledow and an insight into the artist’s use of materials in Morocco by conservator, Catherine Nunn.
The exhibition is enhanced by posters, photographs and costumes, giving background and context to the artworks which represent the diverse range of her long and successful career, from Paris to Morocco to Etaples and Brittany, as well as images of Mosman and travels in northern NSW, to her later images from her time at ‘Knockalong’, a sheep station in the Monaro region, including landscapes, portraits and images of her son Rix.
Three concurrent solo shows by artists we believe deserve greater recognition for their contribution to the Australian Art story. Contemporary Melbourne artist Robert Clinchand his urban capriccios which are based on real places, allowing a sense of recognition and familiarity to the viewer. Robert adapts the elements to suit the message he seeks to present, making comment on universal aspects of humanity and life on earth. Murray Griffin (1903 – 1992) is admired for his lithographs of birds, but less well known for his paintings of landscapes and the spiritual influence on his work, culminating in The Journey series. Horace Trenerry (1899 – 1958) has been described as the Monet of South Australia. Little known outside his home state, his focus on the Australian landscape captures observed details, light and atmosphere.
Preview the artworks on our website and download the e-catalogues linked below to learn more about each of these underrated artists.
Helen S. Tiernan’s most recent paintings included in our current exhibition, Storied Country, continue her themes of the Australian landscape as a repository for memory and stories associated with indigenous culture, colonial encounters and life today, expressed through a new visual device – the quirky images of square stud bulls and corpulent cows. Whilst a reminder of the ubiquitous cattle in her native Gippsland, they also reference colonial paintings (as well as William Dobell and John Kelly) and point to exploitative farming and the destruction of local Indigenous culture, fauna and lands. In The Strangers, the cows are provisionally taped onto the canvas, highlighting their presence as outsiders in the landscape, contrasted against the majestic river red gum, asserting a proud indigenous presence and also referencing the landscapes of the Australian Impressionists of the Heidelberg School.
Helen Tiernan The Strangers 2022
View the paintings at our Gallery until 18 November 2022 and download the catalogue and watch the video of the opening on our website – click here to view
Born in Gippsland, Helen S. Tiernan draws on her Irish and Aboriginal heritage to explore issues of identity; Black/White contact history; connection to and management of country; environmental concerns; and the experience of women. As well as drawing on her own experiences, she looks to art history and literary, historical and cultural references. Her landscapes build on her understanding of the land as a cultured space of ancient knowledge and deep memory; storied with songlines. By redirecting and transforming history through her own creative process Helen challenges us to revisit and reinterpret it.
“A central idea in my work is the importance of the Australian landscape as a repository or memory bank that is rich with Indigenous knowledge and stories associated with traditional life, colonial encounters and life today. The work is complex, layered and deliberately playful. The paintings are encoded with Indigenous symbols and patterns that express meanings that go deep into the unconscious, pointing to understandings related to the sentience, sacredness and power of the land which words can’t always capture. It is a way of allowing the viewer to engage more imaginatively with the painting and bring their own experiences into their reading of the works.”
Exhibition to be opened Saturday 22 October at 2pm by Steve Dimopoulos MP, Minister for Tourism, Sport and Major Events; Minister for Creative Industries. Please RSVP to ausart@diggins.com.au
Download the catalogue – colour illustrated with essay by Dr Marie Geissler, Visiting Associate Researcher, University of Wollongong; Associate Researcher, National Museum of Australia, Canberra and author of Dreaming the Land, 2022. Dr Geissler will also speak at the exhibition opening.
