Address: Sidespace Gallery

Opening Event
Friday 17 February 2023
5:00pm – 7:00pm

Enter a gallery space transformed – by designers, using seaweed-derived products – into a ‘speculative vision of a future home’, where a regenerative relationship between humanity and earth (and seaweed) has blossomed.

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Pneu is part of the International Seaweed Symposium (ISS) and MONA FOMA 2023

Opening Event
Friday 3 February 2023
6:00pm – 8:00pm

Layers of monochrome became earth, sky, abstracted fields, wheat and grass twisted, flattened and forced – a changed landscape. From Nina Keri‘s psyche comes images of Ukraine as the breadbasket. Food, sustenance, life – threatened again by war. Borderland consists of eight works painted in heartfelt response to Ukraine.

“For several years the theme of my artwork has been my maternal family history – of life in Ukraine before and during the Second World War.  Specifically, the stories from my Russian Grandma.  I have shaped her stories into forms that are carriers of a deep family narrative of survival and continuation despite the destruction of war.  Part of me has always experienced Ukraine through my Grandma’s stories.  It is an almost fairy tale place in my psyche.  In my mind’s eye I see the farm, the many creatures that shared the life of the family, horses, cattle, pigeons, rabbits, a pet fox and a pet wolf, the great expanse of Steppe. green and verdant, where Grandma would ride.  But as with all fairy tales, there is darkness and evil.  I also see the cattle train taking my grandmother away, and her beloved uncle running after it.  It’s a real place, but I have never been there.  Yet in my DNA lies the deep rich soil, maybe alongside bits of broken china, rusty nails and animal bones.  To see this world of my imagination down the barrel of a soldier’s gun, uploaded to tiktok, is almost indescribable for me. 

On the 24th of February 2022, to my shock and disbelief, Russia invade Ukraine.  Four days into the war I started painting without concept, in a cathartic state, to release my mental and emotional anguish.  Layers of monochrome became earth and sky, abstracted fields, wheat and grass that’s twisted, flattened and forced – a changed landscape.  From deep in my psyche comes images of Ukraine as the breadbasket.  Food, sustenance, life – all this is threatened again by war.  I allowed myself free rein in the creative process.  If an image came to mind, I would honour it.  If there were suggestions in the beginning of a work, I would follow them.  I have named this exhibition Borderland.  It consists of eight works painted in heartfelt response to Ukraine.”
– Nina Keri

The annual Hunter Island Press (HIP) Mini Print Exhibition and Sale showcases the different printmaking techniques and variety of subjects undertaken by its members. 

The fine art prints are all a uniform paper size of 21cm x 21cm and are affordably priced at $40 each.

The work is pegged around the room and customers are encouraged to help themselves to the print they would like to purchase in an untraditional gallery style way. As a print is sold, it is replaced with another by the same printmaker. This may not necessarily be the same subject or technique as participants are unrestricted for this Exhibition. Sales are made on a first come, first serve basis.

Opening Event
Friday 25 November 2022
6:00pm – 8:00pm

An exhibition of new landscape paintings in oil, by Stephen Mallick.

Opening Event
Friday 11 November 2022
6:00pm – 8:00pm

An exhibition of small sculptural works in wood by Taiwanese/Tasmanian artist Chi Ling Tabart.

We are all sentient beings. We talk about our feelings and express those complex emotions in language and in art. There are various eddies in our life we deal constantly with. Some are bigger and some are smaller caused by psychological and environmental stressors.

Eddies are rolling us and pushing us around and creating a state of unhappiness. Sometimes we get stuck, or capsized by the turbulence, but other times we learn to cope and recover emotionally with days, months or years.

Opening Event
Friday 14 October 2022
6:00pm – 8:00pm

A study of identity through portraiture and still life, by Zoe Lovell.

“Portraits give us a glimpse into who a sitter is through their physical appearance. We are able to understand aspects of who they are through their facial expressions, body language and personal style. However, there’s always more to someone than what’s presented on the surface.

This body of work was born out of a frustration of being overlooked based on my outward appearance and the way I present myself. We each have our own unique experience with this sense of dismissal, regardless of how we appear on the outside and it saddens me to know that through some eyes, we’re only worth as much as our looks. 

I have created a series of portraits of myself and my friends, showcasing not only the way we look, but aspects of our lives that shape our identities, whether that’s through our lived in spaces or objects of importance to us. My aim during this process has been to capture aspects of ourselves that we value most and want to be recognised for. We each have our own set of ambitions, skills and personality traits that define who we are and eclipse the significance of our outward appearances. 

Whilst I have created portraits, which typically only give us a sense of personality through expression, body language and looks, these paintings aim to be a quiet celebration of individuality through the everyday and act as windows into the lives and identities of the subjects.”
– Zoe Lovell

An exhibition by Landscape Photographer Samuel Allen

“My homeland of Tasmania is a natural setting for landscape photography. The untouched temperate rain-forests, world heritage areas and coastal scenery is simply breathtaking. A plethora of famous walking tracks, well-formed and sometimes not well known within the island, lead to locations perfect for capturing images that I try to showcase with my photography.”
– Samuel Allen

From marine algae to twisted trees, this exhibition by Anna Brooks explores a fascinating variety of plant forms.

An exhibition of works on paper, including printmaking, photography, drawing and collage. Intimate portraits show each plant, or plant part, as something precious and intriguing. The works emphasise form and pattern and the diversity of shapes and designs found in nature. They celebrate the mysterious nature of plants, and draw the viewer into the inner reaches of other organisms which may sometimes seem alien and sometimes familiar.

Anna Brooks has a great love of plants. This began when she was a child roaming around in bushland on the family farm, continued through a degree in Botany, and years of bushwalking in many wonderful places. Brooks completed her Honours in Fine Arts in 2021.  Almost all of her art is about the natural world.

Life Drawing : charcoal studies, constructed objects, and photographs that draw on Medieval tapestries, industrial diagrams, wunderkammers, natural history collections, and maps to explore the multiple meanings of Drawing and Life, by Marinelle Basson.

“Life draws : squiggles, paw-prints, and traces – imprints of brachiopod shells from hundreds of millions of years ago in the mudstone of our garden. Less fixed are the flight-lines of insects and birds; harder to spot are the underground drawings of worms, roots, and billions of microscopic creatures. Life is everywhere, even in the darkest underwater. How it wriggles, squeezes out of tight spots, returns after disasters and thrives, or hangs by the thinnest of threads… fragile threads so easily cut: species lost, links severed.

We draw too : tens of thousands of years ago, our ancestors drew with charcoal and ochre on rocks and in caves. Humans have drawn with enormous stone structures, and tiny shell beads, with feet leaving footprints and tracks like wallabies do.  We continue to mark the world as we cut and build, dig and dredge. We remove mountain tops, re-route waterways, change everything… our marks getting bigger and bolder. 

For me, drawing is mark-making and conversation, listening and responding with charcoal on paper, or tearing, scrumpling, wrapping, pinning. It’s a way of getting to know intimately, distilling the essence of something;  a way to explore edges: animate|inanimate,  animal-self|human-self.  I draw upon life which has drawn me, which still draws me: not just the lines on my hands, but my whole way of being in the world, and what I cherish the most.”
– Marinelle Basson 

New abstract works by Haetaek Choi comprising of a combination of Automatism, Serendipitous, coincidental expression and Eastern calligraphy.

Automatism
Through subconscious, automatic acts of creativity, l strive to express how one is able to visually put to canvas the subconscious visual reality that comes to mind without meticulous planning. Through brush strokes, this instant interpretation of the chaotic unconscious world explores the concept of automatism.

Serendipitous, coincidental expressionism
A coincidence is contrary to logos-centred rational thinking. This form of expression combined with automatism produces surprisingly serendipitous artistic results. Although I commence my artwork with a certain image or purpose in mind, I can’t help but accept the end result because it is a result of the convergence between the intentional and unintended.

Eastern calligraphy 
Amongst the oriental style of brushstrokes, the calligraphy handwriting, which is called chaucer, is a tool where one communicates a clear linguistic message. The varied strength of the brushwork on the canvas however, results in an amazing pictorial image that can be left to further creative interpretation.

“When the three visual elements of Automatism, Serendipity and Eastern calligraphy are combined, I float colours, blend and permeate the paint on canvas, which draws out the contrast between primary and complementary colours.”
– Haetaek Choi, Hobart, September 2022