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MAUD GALLERY: TRANSLUCENCE: Jacqui Dean’s Xrayograms

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TRANSLUCENCE: Jacqui Dean’s Xrayograms

Maud Creative Gallery June 18th – July 19th, 2014

6 Maud Street Newstead, QLD 4006
Ph 07 32161727
www.maud-creative.com

Jacqui Dean + Robert MacFarlane Photo: Doug Spowart

A comment about the work by the exhibition speaker Robert McFalane

In TRANSLUCENCE, photographic artist Jacqui Dean reveals Australia’s flora, both native and introduced – in radically new ways. Dean’s searching vision reduces flowers to their essential, sculptural shapes, translating them into exquisite, archival black and white prints. Calla lilies are seen as never before – with their curved flowers resembling the shape and texture of a crystal goblet. Dean’s delicate images of roses, through composition and digital magic, reveal interlaced petals that mimic the textures of a Tulle bridal veil.

Dean’s delicate, dancing images in TRANSLUCENCE mirror the elegance of Nature while resonating deeply with the work of artists as disparate as photographic pioneer William Henry Fox Talbot (1800-1877) and the affectionate, intricate drawings of Nature by Albrecht Durer. (1471-1528)

Jacqui Dean is a talented Sydney architectural, corporate and fine-art photographer known for her rigourous sense of composition and peerless black and white printmaking skills. Twenty seven prints will be on display at Maud Creative Gallery during this first Brisbane exhibition of TRANSLUCENCE.

“Look deep into nature, and then you will understand everything better.”

ALBERT EINSTEIN (1879 – 1955)

‘Another Universe’ a review by Victoria Cooper

From the late 19^th, and into the early 20th century there was a growing movement in the sciences and the arts that associated with Nature’s inherent resonance of form and structure from the microscopic to the cosmic. These new vistas and universes were recorded not only by the scientists’ hand but also by new developments in technology, notably the invention of the photographic process. Visual communication through imaging technologies continues to be an important tool in scientific research. But these images were not just useful as scientific evidence they were and continue to be inspiration for the creative work of artists and designers.

One noted exemplar utilising this visual medium was Karl Blossfeldt (1865-1932), a sculptor, metal craftsman and teacher. Blossfeldt began taking photographs of botanical specimens to use in his classes as ideas for students to create design forms from nature. But Blossfeldt’s work became very influential in the art, craft and design movement that popularised natural forms as templates for architecture, sculpture and 3D design work. His photographic documentation revealed abstract views of humble everyday roadside plants as visually interesting structural and aesthetic forms. As a result, Blossfeldt’s photographs also became renowned as works of fine art.

Jacqui Dean’s exhibition Translucence, at 2 Danks Street Gallery, Sydney, and now at Maud Gallery in Brisbane, is the result of artistic curiosity and visual investigation natural forms through the phenomenon of Xrays. Art in this respect is the revelation of the unseen, the beholding of the essence within ordinary objects or a transforming perception of the everyday experience. The photograph, or in this case ‘xrayograph’, seals the object within the frame safe from the changes and inevitable decay over time. At first glance these images could appeal to the naturalist or perhaps a student of design (after Blossfeldt). Yet a deeper – more poetic vision immanent in nature is also suggested through a more contemplative viewing of these images.

Some may argue that this is an uncomfortable clash between the modernist and the romantic, or the objectivity of scientific evidence and the subjective imagination. But could this work identify with a need to embrace a sense of wonder rarely seen within a super-hyped, virtual digital-image society? Dean’s work in Translucence is informed by the poetry of music and her life’s experiences and her prodigious professional practice in photography. However the rewards for the thoughtful viewer will be to share in her wonder of the natural world that surrounds and nourishes our everyday life.

Victoria Cooper . . . June 9, 2013.

Rose Xrayogram by Jacqui Dean

Victoria Cooper, Jacqui Dean, Ruby Spowart & Mel Anderson Photo:Doug Spowart

Robert takes a drink — Photo: Doug Spowart+Steve Jones

Bibiana Stanfield and Neil Burton @ Maud Gallery

Mel Anderson, Ros Stakes and Lesle Downie @ the opening Maud Gallery Photo: Doug Spowart

Guests at the Translucence opening Maud Gallery Photo: Doug Spowart

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MORE INFORMATION:

Jacqui Dean’s Website: http://deanphotographics.com.au/fine-art/

Interview by Gemma Piali of FBi Radio, Sydney: http://fbiradio.com/interview-jacqui-dean-on-translucence/

Xrayograms: © Jacqui Dean

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 Unported License.

Written by Cooper+Spowart

June 21, 2014 at 11:56 pm

Posted in Exhibitions, Meeting People, Reviews, Victoria Cooper, Wot happened on this day

Tagged with Jackie Dean, Jacqui Dean, Maud Gallery, Robert McFarlane, Translucence, Xrayograms

IT’S ALL GREEK TO US…

The Roxy Theatre and Peter’s Café, Bingara

When we were young the Greek restaurant was a feature of every country town’s main street. They opened all hours, often being the first to open in the morning and the last to close in the evening. All kinds of meals and foods were served from fish ‘n’ chips to espresso coffee and cold malted milkshakes. Greek cafes often had the architectural style of the art deco palace, with its Aztec plasterwork, chrome, mirrors, aluminium-edged laminex tops, bench seats and cubicles, terrazzo floors and pendant light fittings. The welcoming and friendly staffs were usually the family and sometimes they were your schoolmates as well.

We have had a fascination with these places and in our travels we’ve often picked out a few candidates for the most authentic Greek Café experience of the past. For quite a few years we have been calling into the Niagara Café in Gundagai for lunch, breakfast or dinner. The Niagara is a survivor of the fine tradition of the Greek restaurant with an interesting connection to the Australian Labour Party. An earlier blog posts tell about this place – SEE a folio of images HERE.

Corner of Maitland and Cunningham Streets, Bingara

Last year when doing some research into the Niagara we encountered an amazing story about another Greek restaurant called Peter’s Cafe in the central north NSW town of Bingara. Three friends Peter Feros, Emanuel Aroney and George Psaltis from the island of Kythera came to Bingara in the 1920s and formed a partnership in a range of businesses. They designed and built Peter’s Café and the adjacent Roxy Theatre. When it opened in 1936 the enterprise was a quite remarkable package: café, guest accommodation, theatre, leased shops and energetic and entrepreneurial expertise of the three partners.

The Roxy façade and interior

But fierce competition from the local Regent Theatre meant that the Roxy could not survive in the small community and within months the three owners filed for bankruptcy. The doors of the theatre were closed and the structure protected from redevelopment – entombed. In the 1960 the café also closed and was converted into, amongst other things, a Chinese restaurant.

In Peter’s Café looking towards the street

In the 1990s group of dedicated community members began a process that sought support from all levels of government to reinstate the Peter’s Café and Roxy Theatre complex to its former glory. Funds were granted and the restoration work began with the re-opening in 2004. The official opening ceremony to launch the fully restored Greek cafe and the new ‘Museum of Greek settlement in Country Australia (New South Wales and Queensland)’ took place in April 2011.

A Hercules breakfast from Peter’s Café

We had breakfast at Peter’s Café. From the menu we selected and shared a Hercules Breakfast consisting of bacon, poached eggs, haloumi, spinach, tomatoes and mushrooms cooked by the resident chef Vio. It was a great start to the day.

Our chef Vio at Peter’s Café

Around the town of Bingara the night before we added a few images to our Nocturne Project – some of the photographs are at the end of this post.

To find out more about this place visit the attached links to the ROXY, PETER’s CAFÉ and KYTHERA FAMILY websites for more details of this fascinating story.