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The Last Word for 2009

Gallery and invited artists use words as a springboard to visual expression in an eclectic gathering of paintings, drawings, books, sculpture and jewelry.

Featuring: Deborah Beck, Brigid Cole-Adams, Diana Davidson, Heather Ellyard, Robyn Gordon, Graham Kuo, Adrian Lockhart, Katrina O?Brien and Peter Pinson, Sarah Tomasetti

As we rush towards year end, Wilson Street Gallery examines the ambivalent connection between the written word and visual expression.  Text, a collection of works from gallery and invited artists opens on Saturday 5 December.

Gallery Director, Janet Clayton, said that the inclusion of text within a visual image polarized opinion in the art community.  “Some believe that text distracts from the purity of the visual image.  Other artists, however, regard text as an important part of our visual language, in the traditions of symbolism and calligraphy,“ she said.  “And many artists also see the collaboration between visual art and the written word as an affirmation of a universal creative language”.  

Curator of the exhibition, Michelle Perry, said that she had selected work for Text that demonstrated the myriad of ways in which language was used by artists. “Inner west artist, Deborah Beck, uses numbers as the subject of her rich painting, Dated.”, she said.  “For Heather Ellyard, visual and written symbols are intertwined to create a visually poetic sequence.  Adrian Lockhart’s sensuous books locate art within a place normally reserved for the written word.  Brigid Cole-Adams, Melbourne Artist and Peter Keneally, poet, blogger and writer for the Melbourne Age, collaborate in the creation of a poem embedded within a sculptural form.  Graham Kuo uses Chinese Calligraphy to create form, beauty and meaning.”  

Text runs until Sunday 20 December at Wilson Street Gallery.  The Gallery is open Wednesday to Sunday 11am to 6pm.   For further information contact janet@wilsonstreetgallery.com.au.