Story Bridge Show
10 Artists
Craig Amos, Phil Bazzo, Gaye Cook, Kathleen Dempsey, Martin Edge, Evan Hollis, Grace Howland, Stephanie Morris, Shinji Ogata, Clare Treston
14 February - 4 March 2012
Official Opening - Friday 17th February 6pm
Here is a selection of the 60 works now in the gallery
Scroll down to bottom to see Opening Night Address by Robyn Bauer
Artist Martin Edge with some of his pieces from the show.
Walkway beneath Bridge, Kathleen Dempsey,51x76cm, $450
Bridge Framing the City 1, Kathleen Dempsey, 51x76cm, $450
Detail of "Story, Story Night" by Evan Hollis, Lino Print 47x57cm framed, $400
Build a Bridge -Get Over It, Clare Treston, framed 104x72cm, $450 each or $700 for pair
Story Bridge Walkway, Shinji Ogata, ink and wash on paper, framed 42x37cm,$650 SOLD
Static Structure, Shinji Ogata, ink and wash on paper, framed 39x27cm, $575
Story Bridge 1 - Yellow Reflections, Grace Howland, 100x100cm $850
Story Bridge 3 - Blue Grey Day with Boat, Grace Howland, 100x100cm, $850
Story Bridge 2 - Dusk with Triangle of Lights, Grace Howland, 100x100cm, $850
Fire Up, Craig Amos, 110x81cm, $1,500
Under the Weather, Craig Amos, 110x81cm, $1,500
Bridging Trade, Craig Amos, 110x81cm, $1,500 SOLD
Steel Triangles, Craig Amos, 110x81cm, $1,500
A Purple Story, Phil Bazzo, 76x61cm, $1,700
Wharf St Kangaroo Point, Phil Bazzo, 76x61cm, $1,700
Crossing Brisbane River 2005, Phil Bazzo, 101x40cm, $1,500
Steel Story 1, Phil Bazzo, 41x31cm, $650
Cafe at the Pier Gaye Cook
First River Cat Ride by Gaye Cook
Picnic Under the Story Bridge by Gaye Cook
A Walk by the River, Martin Edge, 35x70cm, $580 SOLD
A Bridge Day by Martin Edge
Bridge and City Cat, Martin Edge, 20x25cm, $110
Pink Bridge, Martin Edge, 20x25cm, $110
Story Bridge - Cloud over Steel, Shinji Ogata, 102x82cm framed, $1,250
Kathleen Dempsey
For more works by Kathleen please click on the Artists page.
Story Bridge Bag by Stephanie Morris
Small Story Bridge Bags by Stephanie Morris
Small Story Bridge Bags by Stephanie Morris
The Story Bridge has affected and influenced the lives of many thousands of people as commuters, tourists and also artists.
But have you ever really looked at it?
Here are 10 artists who have
I would like to introduce -
Craig Amos, Phil Bazzo, Gaye Cook, Kathleen Dempsey, Martin Edge, Evan Hollis, Grace Howland, Stephanie Morris, Shinji Ogata and Clare Treston
In this exhibition the variety of interpretations is a good thing. The same structure is presented in varying guises from a criss-cross preying-mantis type creature, a triangle of lights to a coloured tonka toy superimposed over the river and buildings.
We also present some historical material here with Shinji’s 1939 bridge being built and Phil’s bridge in 2005.
The asymmetrical structure of the bridge is a clever piece of engineering. It is no wonder it is famous as a landmark. Words such as “icon” are overused and I hope this exhibition highlights the bridge as an entity in its own right as well as being a symbol that represents Brisbane.
I think we can see if we look around us at these works, that the bridge is alive. Not only does it hold many secrets and untold stories of the people it affects daily, it has its own stories and secrets that we may never know.
But to what we do know and what we have before us, I will talk about each artist in turn.
Craig Amos has 4 works in the show “Fire Up” “Under the Weather” “Bridging Trade” and “Steel Triangles”. The titles tell us that Craig is telling the human story of the bridge. Craig’s works contain distortions and exaggerations of the human form and also the elements of water and fire and light. I have seldom seen a painting more successful at making us feel the energy of rain, not just any rain but Brisbane rain. Craig’s vigorous stokes and splashes provide a sophisticated balance with his closely observed details and his painterly bravura.
I will mention also that artists these days on their cv’s list all the prizes they have entered but on Craig’s cv, all the prizes listed he has won! There were about 15.
Phil Bazzo has a more realist style with his trademark collage elements. Phil has had several exhibitions that capture a particular Queensland quality of clean, direct colours and lines that celebrate a real sense of place. In this show Phil has played with different viewpoints, the aerial view of the river in 2005, the juxtaposed angles of Steel Story 1 and 2 and a humorous perspective in “Pro Hart’s view” of the bridge.
Gaye Cook is a Brisbane artist of long standing who has made a point of concentrating on Brisbane cityscapes, and she also presents us here with the human stories of the bridge, - people picnicking, having a coffee, going for a city cat ride, and several nightscapes showing different seasons of the river.
Kathleen Dempsey had a solo exhibition in this gallery several years ago and with her particular vision of the dynamic angles of architectural subject matter she was a perfect choice for this exhibition. Her strong works have developed a haunting quality of the years with her subtle palette and mastery of tone. Have good look at her monumental bridge pylon (in the window) from a distance and you get the picture. It is the universal, - an imposing concrete structure, in the particular, - a pylon of the Story Bridge.
Martin Edge is our 2011 success story. Martin has had a work from this gallery purchased by Parliament House Canberra for its collection. He has a show coming up here in April entitled “Martin and the Animals”. Martin’s naïve style has impressed many collectors such as Bruce Heiser and Ken Done, who opened his Sydney show last year. His work is going from strength to strength as he gains confidence to let his natural talents with colour and placement combine with his sense of humour to produce highly collectable paintings.
Evan Hollis is a newcomer to this gallery. He lives up the road in Toowoomba and is the curator of the annual Downlands art show as well as a judge on the art prize circuit. Evan has produced a series of Black and white lino prints around the subject of the bridge. He has used a sophisticated process of “caustic etch” which he has controlled remarkably and has achieved superb results particularly in the treatment of water, skies and foliage. His titles such as “Bridge over troubled Water”, “Story Story Night”, and “Story Time” indicate the thought processes and focus that Evan has bought to this project. I believe Evan is happy to talk about his processes if people are interested.
Grace Howland has had several exhibitions here in this gallery. Her works are landscape based as she grew up in rural Queensland near Dalby and the city landscape is quite a departure for her. Her semi-abstract style, bold brushwork, and carefully considered tertiary colours present us with refined works filtered through her knowledge of landscape forms and confidence with paint.
Stephanie Morris is an accomplished painter and portrait artist but in recent years and in this show she has turned to the medium of textiles and produced a series of bags based on the bridge. Her work now includes clothing, and fabric jewellery. The pieces in this show all have titles such as “Through the Bougainvillea”, “Urban Vibrancies”, and “Industrial Vistas” and include applique, embroidery, buttons and beading. The shoulder bags and small pouches reflect both tropical aspects of Brisbane and the neon night like.
Shinji Ogata is a newcomer to this gallery. Shinji was born in Yatsushiro City in Japan and lived in Tokyo before moving to Brisbane in 2004. He works mainly in pen and watercolour and employs what he describes as a “One-take” style and the improvisation this entails. As you can see from his sensitive pieces he has a very strong individual aesthetic and as he usually draws human figures and organic subjects he has imbued these architectural and landscape subjects with a corporeal life of their own.
We welcome Shinji to the gallery and look forward to lots more work.
Finally, Clare Treston is related to the designer of the bridge John Bradfield. Bradfield born in Sandgate also designed the Sydney Harbour Bridge. Clare’s work is bold and satirical in nature and shows a cheeky sense of humour. She creates postcards and calendars such as “Our Hairitage” (Stephan’s Needle) and Mauvember(Jacarandas in November). The boxes of cards are also available here as well as single cards of the Story Bridge entitled “True Story”.