Anne Grgich
Madam Dussa, 2009
Bitten by snakes? Possibly. At the very least we can say they are slithering around… Here’s Anne Grgich‘s Madam Dussa, from the Callan Park show of last November. (You can download a PDF about Anne’s Archaeologies of the Extraordinary Everyday exhibition here.)
I visited Orange Regional Gallery (ORG) today and saw the American & European Outsiders exhibition. This show features works in the private collection of Professor Colin Rhodes, Dean of Sydney College of Arts. This was another energetic show, following on from the recent Philip Hammial extravaganza. Here’s a work by Dann Wheldon from the current show:
Dann Wheldon
Untitled
mixed media
Although the small but well-written catalogue has biographical information about most of the artists, in the case of Dann it states enigmatically “No details are available for the artist”.
More is written about Anne Grgich (b.1961). Based in Seattle, Anne began to make art at 15, secretly painting in her family’s books and making junk constructions. She suffered an illness for a period which seems to have intensified her art making. The exhibition has some lovely books she has made, they seemed to me like a cross between precious illuminated manuscripts and sculptural constructions with the psychic weight of Kiefer’s lead books.
Anne Grgich
Untitled
mixed media
And here is a detail of a work on paper (exhibited in a glass case, so hard to photograph) by Roy Wenzel (b. 1959). Wenzel spent the first eleven years of his life in hospital, due to severe eczema. He was also found to be autistic. He began drawing at age 11, and much of his work is self-portrait.
Roy Wenzel
Untitled (detail)
mixed media
