Waterloo Wonderland

Waterloo is a little hub for good coffee, expensive meals and contemporary art. Commercial Galleries pretty-much line the streets, with "2 Danks st" squeezing 10 galleries into a trendy glass warehouse and other independent galleries littered around the area. Just down Young St, past the heritage listed sewage site, a hillsong church and a fresh food market, you come to GBK gallery and Breenspace.

Commercial Galleries are a scary place for an art student, they make me feel excited, sick and under-dressed all at once. Excited that one day our gallery and artwork might be as recognized or as influential as theirs. Sick from the stylish older women and men commenting on works, placing red dots on $10,000 worth of painting like its grocery shopping. You are lucky to get a single glance from anyone around, jeans torn at the bottom with paint wiped across the thighs and hair that is clearly cut in the kitchen with fabric scissors. Little do they know you plan on being the "next big thing" to hit sydney art scene. (well I wish)

The Galleries on Danks st represent a perfect balance of artwords, there is typical Aboriginal art, garden sculptures, "real" sculptures, photography, contemporary painting, jewelery, a little for everyone. Being as critical as I am, and having little knowledge of the art world. I thought a lot of the work was boring as bat-shit. But a couple of the Galleries really stood out.

Tanmaya Bingham - Levels of Tolerance

Brenda May Gallery
11 May - 6 June

www.brendamaygallery.com.au

"For this exhibition, ‘Levels of Tolerance’, I have developed a series of artworks about five couples and their levels of tolerance for one another. Each colour pencil and mixed media work provides an otherworldly portrait of one of these couples along with various icons that populate their universe.

The work is based on the assumption that the level of tolerance we have for our partner is determined by how we choose to perceive them. In investigating this idea, I met with each couple and talked with them at length about the dynamic of their relationship in order to gather material to translate into a visual form.

For some, the word “tolerance” evoked pejorative connotations; “If I am tolerating the other person then I would not be with them”. Others were aware that tolerance plays a role in their relationship. The different reactions to this theme have had an impact on how each relationship is depicted."

These paintings/drawings are exceptional. The figures are so lovely, some wearing feet as shoes, glove patterns as hands, suspenders for thighs. They are sexy paintings, they are skilled and precise. I am not a 2D person, I generally just don't get works missing that essential 3rd dimension. But these paintings are exciting, they are dreamy fantasy's of harsh realities. The works map out the life of the subjects, through symbolic metaphor, and draw you into a world that is both theirs and yours.

Wendy Teackle - Touching Dust

Stella Downer Fine Art

25 May - 19 June
www.stelladownerfineart.com.au

Wendy Teakel, besides having the cutest name, makes absolutely lovely sculpture. Made from cast bronze, fencing wire and sheeps wool, the sculptures are delicate, tough and delightfully, simply, exciting. Her paintings are also something to get excited about, they are raw and country, they have a native and natural feel which really reflects throughout her body of work.

Stella Downer Gallery had this amazing cool grandma feeling about it. I'm sure thats not exactly what they like to hear but it really works for them. Like imagine having Louise Bourgeois as your grandma... (we can all dream) that kind of cool. The gallery has a refined choice of Australian artists, like they aren't just the hottest thing on the scene, rather a really nice reflection of talent and contemporary creativity.

Claire Healy & Sean Cordeiro-
Where We've Been, Where We're Going, Why?
GBK Gallery
6 May - 26 June

www.gbk.com.au

Ofcourse everyone already knows Claire and Sean, they have become Australian, particularly Sydney, art scene legends. This amazing team seem to be capable of anything, with works in the Biennale of Sydney, Venice Biennale, Art Gallery of New South Wales, Artspace, the list goes on. These guys are everywhere you look, and their work is always worth checking out, they never disappoint.

The current exhibit at GBK is little, when you compare it other works such as "not under my roof" from GOMA Brisbane(if you haven't seen their work, look-them-the-fuck-up). But these images are powerful and quirky, made from lego! yes made entirely of lego! they depict space ship explosions with the title of the work referencing what would have been Christa McAuliffe's space-lesson for the children of America.

Nike Savvas - Sliding Ladder

Breenspace
29 April - 5 June

www.breenspace.com

This is the kind of work that makes you re-think sculpture completely. It makes you think "why the fuck aren't I doing something like this?" Sliding Ladders is a vibrant, fresh take on sculpture of the future. The forms, created from pine planks and coloured wool, are dynamic, moving and changing. They are made with absolute skill and mathematical precision, taking the eye on a delightful, colouful journey of space. It makes you rethink the materials around you, imagining endless posibilities.
A Greek-Australian, living between London and Canberra Savvass studied at Sydney College of the Arts, and College of Fine Arts Sydney. It seems maybe COFA will teach me something... i like this.

Samantha Jones