If you’re at all involved with the arts scene in the ‘Shire’, or even from further afield in the Northern Rivers, chances are you’ve had something to do with the wonderful atelier-style gallery and arts centre, Still @ the Centre, in Byron Bay’s industrial area.

Over the past decade or so, Vianney Pinon and his wife Sabine have been such enthusiastic supporters of the arts and most specifically of the artists in the Byron region, that it’s hard to imagine how it was before they came, bringing their wonderful range of imported arts materials, providing framing expertise, photoshop skills, an exhibition space, workshops and more.

What not so many people knew is that in their previous French lives, the couple had already established themselves as supporters of the Australian arts, back in 1996 when they started the Fil Invisble, (the Invisible Thread), a French publishing company devoted to bringing Australian and New Zealand literature to France, including Rosalie Ham’s The Dressmaker currently showing at the movies.

But now Vianney has fronted up with another skill – and his first solo exhibition, Human Nature, at the Lone Goat Gallery which opens next Friday night in Byron Bay is testament to his continuing commitment to explore art – in all its forms. For Vianney is nothing if not a renaissance man – he has PhD in cognitive psychology, and a degree in event management; he’s worked with a rock festival, as a cultural press attaché, and as actor, singer and dancer in local theatrical productions.

Earth Gift, 40 x 60cm, giclee print on enhanced matt photo paper.

Human Nature is a body of work inspired by textures Vianney encountered while he and Sabine were living on their farm in Ewingsdale, running the gallery and parenting the couple’s two boys. “I collected photographs of the textures,” explains Vianney. “They became my memories of visited places, like postcards of artefacts. What I began to see in those photographs was the soul of human nature itself, reaching out from inside. Gradually I developed a way to create a bridge between photography and a style of painting, where I almost literally drew out the inner spirit from within the image.”

The titles tell the story – Under the rusted sand, What stuff am I made of, Heart’s door – Her, Earth man, Where are my wings? Drought…The giclee prints on enhanced matt photo paper are atmospheric, evocative and, in some cases, challenging. Why do we do what we do to the earth, they seem to ask – and of course it is an unanswerable question, but with these beautiful images Vianney is at least making us think.

In the past few years, since their boys have grown older on this side of the planet, and parents and siblings on the other side of the planet, the Pinons have taken to spending much more time in France where he and Sabine now run the Ateliers Fourwinds, an artist’s residency in the Alpilles, near Arles. Human Nature will be hosted in May 2016 at the Espace Van Gogh in Arles. It seems as if the invisible thread between ‘here’ and ‘there’ is as strong as ever.

Where are my wings? Homage to Hilary Herrmann. 45 x 60cm, giclee print on enhanced matt photo paper.

The exhibition, Human Nature, by Vianney Pinon is on at the Lone Goat Gallery from November 6 – 18. Go to lonegoatgallery.com

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An initiative to bring the finalists of the 2014 Archibald Prize to the Northern Rivers, with the exhibition shared between two galleries – the Lismore Regional Gallery, and Lone Goat Gallery in Byron Bay – gives Northern Rivers residents the chance to catch us with this much loved annual art event, writes Candida Baker.

As a regular Archibald visitor one of the main attractions for me is the diverse and eclectic styles of painting one encounters as a viewer. I think perhaps I am not alone here – now in its 93^rd year the Archibald attendances continue to grow, and perhaps in part it’s because it’s seen to be one of the more democratic prizes, including as it does the People’s Choice award and the Packing Room Prize.

The works have been elegantly distributed between the two galleries, with Fiona Lowry’s winning portrait of Penelope Seidler hanging in Lismore and the People’s Choice award, Vincent Fantauzzo’s All that’s good in me (self-portrait as son Luca) and the Packing Room Prize, Tim Storrier’s, The Member, Dr Sir Leslie Colin Patterson KCB AO, hanging in Byron. Storrier’s is an interesting work in that at first glance it seems to be a somewhat predictable treatment of the subject matter, until you realise that Storrier has set Sir Les in a curious desert environment, with a backdrop of clouds and a city floor thereby creating a curious duality between subject and place, which is perhaps mirrored in the duality between Barry Humphries and his alter-ego.

Fiona Lowry, Penelope Seidler, winner 2014 Archibald Prize, acrylic on canvas, 225 x 185 cm.

This year, the hung portraits went from the usual 39 to 54 because of the inclusion of some extra small works – and I think that’s a good thing. It serves two purposes – it gives us more to look at, but more importantly it reintroduces the notion that less is more, and that it might even be possible at sometime in the future for a small portrait to win the prize.

I love Fiona Lowry’s work, and her massive air-brushed acrylic on canvas portrait of Harry Seidler’s widow, Penelope Seidler is a beautiful and considered work, although for me it does perhaps lack a certain element of passion, or even of instantaneous response to the subject, which has become less and less a part of portrait painting, as artists rely more on photographs and technique and less on sitting times with their subject.

Tim Storrier, The Member, Dr Sir Leslie Colin Patterson KCB AO, acrylic on canvas, 183 x 91.5 cm.

Joanna Braithwaite, Colleen McCullough, Bright Spark, oil on canvas, 198cm x 198cm

As usual, there are portraits with emotional content – Joanna Braithwaite’s portrait of Colleen McCullough, for instance, and the very accomplished oil portrait of 93-year-old Tom Uren by Mirra Whale are both heart-stoppers, with McCullough and Uren dying within three days of each other in January this year.

One of the interesting and often frustrating things about the Archibald for me is which paintings get media attention and which don’t. Personally I thought two very rich and unusual paintings where overlooked this year in terms of attention. One was comedian and writer Anh Do’s startlingly vivid oil portrait of his father, painted on raw linen, which although not exatly in the ‘less is more’ category at 244cm x 200cm, has a powerful presence to it. His father, who had shrunk to a mere 50kgs, came to visit Anh Do, who insisted that he should paint him then and there – and for me it is the sense of raw immediacy that gives the portrait its emotional power.

Anh Do:  Father, oil on canvas, 244 x 200 cm.

The other painting, and I was lucky enough to meet the artist on the opening night in Byron Bay, is Jandamarra Cadd’s powerful acrylic on canvas portrait of singer songwriter Archie Roach, Proud. Cadd, who now lives on the Sunshine Coast, is an Aboriginal (Yorta Yorta) man, who took up painting at an early age as a way to ease the trauma of an abusive childhood.   To Cadd’s surprise, the painting evolved into his first dot painting. “I had to trust the flow,” he told me. “It wasn’t my original plan, but it seemed to consolidate the idea of Uncle Archie being so connected to the land.”

Standing in front of the painting for a while, a curious thing happened – it was almost as if Roach began to transform into a landscape himself. “I began to see that while I was painting,” says Cadd. “It’s almost as if the work and contours of the painting could be a topographical view of a vast area of land. The fact is aboriginal people have a deep connection to the land. We are not separate from the earth and I wanted to show that in my painting.”

Jandamarra Cadd’s portrait of singer songwriter Archie Roach, Proud, acrylic on canvas, 133 x 150cm.

There is a curious similarity between the eyes in Anh Do’s portrait of his father, and Cadd’s of Roach. These are men who have seen almost too much – in Do’s father’s case facing communist soldiers, pirates and starvation at sea, and Roach’s the ongoing battle for his people and their rights. In their eyes there is sadness, compassion and strength – and for me, both these portraits do what the best portraits should do, they stop and made me think about the life beyond the painting, and the person in the painting.

The Archibald is showing in both places until Sunday April 12, so do yourselves a favour – spread your patronage and catch the paintings in both exhibitions. You won’t be sorry.

The Archibald Finalist Exhibition will be running at the Lismore Regional Gallery until Sunday, April 12. The gallery is open Tuesday to Friday from 10.00am to 4.00pm; Thursday from 10.00am to 6.00pm and Saturday and Sunday from 10.00am to 2.00pm. Lismore is closed on Mondays.

The Lone Goat satellite exhibition will be open every day from 10.00am until 4.00pm. The exhibition runs until Sunday, April 12, 2015.

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Robert Ryan’s first exhibition on home soil in eight years, at the Lone Goat Gallery in Byron Bay, aptly titled Place of Dreams is a combination of intricately detailed canvases and four bold lined monotype works.

The canvases currently on display evoke the signature Ryan feels he has finally arrived at – particularly the piece entitled Belongil Fields, a complex mix of merging tones in green, white and yellow that run along the canvas in repeated pattern with no reference to beginning or end. From a distance, the viewer is lost in an abyss of green fields, it is only upon close inspection that the detailed labour of the work reveals itself. The painting took Ryan two months to complete, working eight to nine hour days in his studio six days a week.

“It drove me mad at times,” he says. He often regretted starting it but there was no turning back and the feeling of finishing this massive work was in his words “euphoric – like a natural high”. An approach he says is different to the way he worked in his younger years – ‘the more you learn the harder it is to walk away from a painting thinking that it’s finished, because now you know it’s not…”

Artist Robert Ryan. “The isolation can be extreme…” Painting: ‘Subdivision No 2’, 160cm x 180cm oil on canvas.

Despite the challenges Ryan experienced working through Belongil Fields, he rarely becomes frustrated when painting and saus hat treating it like a job can often make the process easier to tolerate. However, working as a full-time artist however often means long solo hours at the studio – and during the creative process the isolation can often be extreme, particularly in the lead-up to an exhibition. “It can often be a surreal experience being subject to so much time alone and then suddenly being in the spotlight,” he says.

Ryan’s introduction to painting developed when he was young, growing up in South Australia. He had a natural artistic talent which was quickly noticed by his teachers: “Art was something I was good at, people would look at it and fuss over it, that’s what made me continue,” he says. After school he studied at the North Adelaide School of Art – later renamed the Central School of Art.

As a seasoned traveler over the years, the focus of Ryan’s work is often influenced by the places he visits, a permanent residency set up at the Apollo Gallery in Ireland – for whom Ryan still paints – resulted in frequent stints to Dublin between 1997-2004, as well as surfing and painting trips through Indonesia and the Maldives. Often personal themes will emerge unintentionally and he is surprised at what the work will reveal without him anticipating a particular result. To draw attention away from something that may be particularly private, Ryan will often tweak the work and readjust its focus in order for the painting to steer itself slightly off course, the initial concept will regain the focus while the underlying themes blur in the distance or are distorted in symbolism.

Robert Ryan: ‘Hinterland’, oil on board, 68cm x 72cm

He gives no clue about the true meaning behind the work in Belongil Fiends, but states the title has nothing to do with the painting. I’m reluctant to delve any deeper so as not to encroach on his privacy, art, after all, is open to interpretation.

Ryan claims that intention always needs to be considered when preparing new work, stating that: “It might not be the reason to start a painting, but it’s certainly the reason to frame a painting.” In the past, preparing for three solo shows a year was typical, more recently however, Ryan has paired this down to one, opting instead to spread his time towards preparing works in other areas such as competitions as well as developing pieces for the Apollo gallery in Ireland and the Anthea Polson gallery on the Gold Coast.

Despite having had thirty-odd solo shows during his career so far that has seen his work in galleries such as Art House Gallery, Rushcutters Bay in Sydney, the Schubert Gallery on the Gold Coast and the European Parliament in Brussels, and awards such as the Tweed Regional Acquisitive Award on two occasions and the MacArthur National Prize award, Ryan feels that it’s only been in the last handful of years that he has finally come to claim his own signature through the works created: “When you’re young, you can’t help but be influenced by work that you admire, it’s only now, after 20-odd years of painting professionally that I’m starting to really get my own voice.”

 Robert Ryan’s exhibition is on at the Lone Goat Gallery until February 4. lonegoatgallery

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Bernadette Curtin: Reef Forming

At the Lone Goat Gallery in Byron Bay ten artists have come together to express their love of all things oceanic, and the inspirational power and beauty of the sea through their art.

When the Lone Goat Gallery, right next to the Byron Library, opened last year – named after the goat that still roams the headland up by the lighthouse – the artistic community in the region breathed a sigh of relief that at last they had somewhere in the Byron Shire to exhibit in a purpose-built space.

There doesn’t seem to be a better way to show off local artists’ work than with an ocean-based exhibition, given that the gallery is only a few hundred metres from the beach, and in Ocean Ten, seven local artists have been joined by three artists from Sydney, New Zealand and the UK respectively to present their connection and responses to the ocean, based upon their particular geographical location.

Denise Morden with Ocean View series

Through the artworks of the participating artists, Ocean Ten aims to lead the viewer through a variety of approaches and mediums, expressing each artist’s focus and inspiration from the sea, and some of the Shire’s best-known artists have rallied to the ocean’s call.  The artists include:

Denise Morden’s sublime vistas of sea and sky

Alan Morden’s luscious minimalist abstractions

Jeanette Macdonald’s sculptural silk pieces reflecting pattern and rhythm

Merrilee Pettinato’s depiction of the wesak full moon over the Byron Lighthouse,

Simone Ellis’s printed silk scarves inspired by lighthouses and navigation lights

Michele Aboud photographs waves at night to capture the continuous momentum of the ocean

Rosemary Dunstan unravels the relationship between human life and the ocean through our subconscious feelings

Rowena Parkes loves the ocean and the shoreline and her chosen locations are Broken Head, Toberua Island, Fiji, and Fraser Island, Queensland

Tricia Nicholson, a marine biologist, brings her knowledge, experience and love of the sea to the creation of ceramic penguins and dolphins

Bernadette Curtin’s paintings are playful reconstructions of reef formations and their inhabitants.

Ocean Ten. Left to right: The Meeting, Sounds of the Ocean and Ocean View Series.

In this area, where there is already such high ecological and environmental awareness, the intention of this group is to collectively bring awareness to the issues of ocean ecology, the delicate nature of marine ecosystems and the sea creatures which inhabit them.  The rhetorical question underlying the exhibition as a whole is how we can better look after the marine world, and Ocean Ten take their audience along the shoreline and to the ocean’s depths, to shine light on the importance of heightening our awareness about appreciating and caring for our oceans.

The exhitbition is on at Lone Goat Gallery, corner of Middleton and Lawson Street, Byron Bay.  The Gallery is open seven days a week from 10am–4pm.

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