stop the cane toad

Cane toads have changed the biological landscape of Qld, Northern NSW and the NT in disastrous and irreversible ways.

stop the cane toad

how to help

bea maddock

aboriginal art ripoff? - reveiwed

what's wrong with this image?

Oh, I know, its the Australian aboriginal artist called Johan Helder.... mmmm

This was what I posted last week.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
So, having my curiosity aroused, I took the opportunity to visit the gallery. Its on Sarphatistraat, next door to the Albert Hein supermarket and around the corner from an Amsterdam uni campus. Its a community run space where artists are required to make a portfolio submission to board. The gallery is then rented for monthly periods. This isnt Amsterdam's "Paddington". The gallery stable was what you would expect, student and emerging work.

In regards to Johan Helder's work, it appeared to have been directly copied from reproductions of aboriginal art. I recognised the styles of various different artists. It looked like bad copies of pretty patterns. No knowledge or understanding of technique or culture. The other paintings, acrylic abstracts, were equally poor.

What was really sad about this is that the gallery minders were very friendly and helpful and gave me one of the warmest welcomes I have received in an Amsterdam gallery. It looks like a good community space. Its just a pity that they are so uninformed about art and culture from australia and aboriginal copyright.



Here is the website, have a look at the opening photos, they give a good impression of what sort of space this is and high fashion amongst the dutch arty community....

What is our Australia Council doing to promote Australian art overseas?

anita klein

anita klein studied at chelsea and the slade schools of art. she is president of the royal society of painter printmakers (re) and has work in many private and public collections in europe, the usa and australia, including the arts council of great britain.

--------------------------------------------------------------
Australian born painter and printmaker Anita Klein now lives and works in London and has exhibited her prints and large oil paintings extensively in the UK, Australia and California. Trained at the Chelsea School of Art and the Slade School of Fine Art , she is a fellow of the Royal Society of Painter Printmakers, has been shown at the Royal Academy and the Institute of Contemporary Arts in London. Her work is held in many private and public collections including The Arts Council of Great Britain.

Anita's work is a humorous visual diary celebrating the small domestic moments we all share; having breakfast with her daughters, shaving her legs while husband 'Nige' does his exercises, catching the guinea pig and many more. These moments are encapsulated with the soft blackness of the drypoint line, and while irrelevant details are ignored, others like Nige's hairy legs, or the television remote control are lovingly described.

Anita says that 'these everyday events are what she would miss most if it was all taken away'. While family photo albums record our lives as one long round of birthdays and holidays, the very moments we should most value are almost always ignored and forgotten. Anita first showed her work at Pyramid Gallery in 1994 and has been a regular exhibitor ever since.

Drypoints at Pyramid