Cathy's Art Diary

Intriguing exhibition at Ikon Gallery, Birmingham of late work by the Australian artists Sidney Nolan to mark 100 years since his birth. I only know Nolan though his iconic Ned Kelly pictures but these later works were large portraits done in spray paint when he was living for the last 14 years of his life on the Welsh-Midlands border. The earlier series were of people Nolan had known such as Francis Bacon and Benjamin Britten while the later ones feature Aboriginal subjects and in particular the those who were the subject of the Royal Commission into Aboriginal Deaths in Custody. The Aboriginal work had an echo not only of modern street art but also Aboriginal cave paintings. They were in bright colours. I did find the images played with your eyes a bit as they had an out of focus feel which you eye tried to correct. Closes on 3 September 2017  

Strange exhibition at the Ikon Gallery in Birmingham showing two installations by Indian artist, Sheela Gowda. I am afraid this show was what I’d describe as mess as art! The first room had scaffolding in with red material hung in a rather random fashion on it and a few stones. I’ve no idea what it was about. I liked the second room better which had sheets of flattened metal drums some of which had been mad into bowls. I like the fact you could see all stages of a work and I guess it was about making something out of nothing but again it seemed a bit messy! Closes on 3 September 2017