▶ PRESS: TANMAYA BINGHAM IN SMH SPECTRUM

▶ TANMAYA BINGHAM + WARATAH LAHY, CLOSING 24 DECEMBER

Last chance to see the shows by TANMAYA BINGHAM and WARATAH LAHY before they and the Gallery close for the year at 5pm on Saturday 24 December.

Tanmaya Bingham's meticulously rendered mixed media drawings feature the portraits of friends and associates. Often mistaken for photographs, the realistic portraits fuse fantastical elements drawn from around New Mexico where this series was conceived and produced.

The works from Not What it Seems, by Waratah Lahy, are based on a series of old, found photographs and continue the artist's fascination with what others find interesting enough to photograph. The palette was derived from the colour distortion that occurred to the photographs over time and the works show scenes ranging from fields dotted with cows to a church, simple domestic interiors and people at the racetrack.

Congratulations are also in order for Waratah who has been awarded a residency at the Cité Internationale des Arts in Paris.

Please be aware that Gallery will be closed from 5pm December 24, reopening Wednesday, January 18 with Sculpture 2012.

▶ TANMAYA BINGHAM + WARATAH LAHY, OPENING 22 NOVEMBER

New work by TANMAYA BINGHAM and WARATAH LAHY will be on view starting Tuesday 22 November. Please join the Artists for a drink to celebrate the launch of their solo exhibitions on Saturday 26 November from 4-6pm.

Tanmaya Bingham's new body of work titled 'Countermanding Saturation' comprises six large-scale paintings and thirteen smaller works. The comical and the macabre interchange in these drawings, strive against what Bingham calls saturation, the 'emotional, physical or intellectual stimulation' of either the interior or exterior worlds.

Left: Tanmaya Bingham, 'Catching My Bird' 2011, colour pencil and mixed media on board, 42 x 32cm
Right: Waratah Lahy, 'Race Day at the Track' 2011, oil on canvas, 50 x 50cm

The new paintings by Waratah Lahy continue to explore her ongoing fascination with the simplicity of the overlooked: people, places, light and colour. She finds inspiration in everyday scenes that are often lost in the deluge of contemporary visual culture.

▶ NEW IN THE STOCKROOM: TODD FULLER DRAWINGS COMPLETED DURING HIS CITE DES ARTS RESIDENCY

Left: Todd Fuller, 'The Escape (Burrow, The Sequel)' 2011, mixed media collage on paper, 56 c 75.5cm
Right: Todd Fuller, 'A Found Friend (Tin Man)' 2011, mixed media collage on paper, 29.5 x 41.5cm

"Under strict self-imposed instructions, I attempt to draw every day, pushing ideas, integrating imagery and attempting to learn from the Masters that are suddenly accessible. There are days when my studio offers solace from the cultural shock of the city and I hibernate, creating a great deal more than expected. I return with several animations and a box of drawings which British Airways politely tells me is 11 kilos over my baggage allowance."

-Todd Fuller, 'Residency at La Cité International Des Arts', Nava Quarterly, March 2011, p.13.

Left: Todd Fuller, 'A Soul On The Street (Tin Man)' 2011, mixed media collage on paper, 56.5 x 75.5cm
Right: Todd Fuller, 'Lost (Tin Man)' 2011, mixed media collage on paper, 50 x 64.5cm

The drawings were completed during Fuller's residency at the Cité des Arts in Paris and composed upon a collaged background of pages from French books. The majority of works were created in conjunction with his animated films, the title in brackets referencing the specific film.

The two drawings below are from a new animated storyline by Fuller that "involves a shelf on which the man not only stores his heart but a jar of hope, box of happiness, a bottle of joy and all sorts of intangible but important 'stuff' for safe keeping. The man grows and so to does his heart, he finds a friend and realises that he needs that heart but he cannot get the jar open."

Left: Todd Fuller, 'Cross Section, Subtraction (Jar of Hearts) 2011, mixed media collage on card, 70 x 50.5cm
Right: Todd Fuller, 'Safe Keeping (Jar of Hearts)' 2011, mixed media collage on card, 70 x 50.5cm

▶ BRENDA MAY GALLERY HOLIDAY HOURS

Todd Fuller, 'Untitled' 2011, mixed media collage on paper, 56.5 x 75.5cm

The 2 Danks Street Gallery Complex will be closed for the Easter/Anzac Day Long Weekend. 

The Gallery will reopen with normal operating hours starting Wednesday 27 April.

▶ NEW IN THE STOCKROOM: HELENA LESLIE 'A DISSIMULATION OF BIRDS'

Helena Leslie first exhibited at Brenda May Gallery in the 2010 'Paperworks' show and we are pleased to add 'A dissimulation of birds' to our stockroom. The mixed media work on paper features tiny white figurine birds suspended above the surface of the paper with copper wire. The delicate shadows of the birds are carefully transcribed by Leslie with pencil, establishing the visual depth of the assemblage.

The detail (pictured left) illustrates one of the seven birds perched upon the copper wire. The work is intricate and subtle with the miniature scale inviting a close inspection by the viewer.


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Right: Helena Leslie, 'A dissimulation of birds' (detail) 2010, pencil on paper, plastic figurines, acrylic on copper wire, 60 x 50cm

▶ NEW IN THE STOCKROOM: TANMAYA BINGHAM 'FACE-HANDS 2'

Tanmaya Bingham, 'Face-Hands 2' 2010, colour pencil and mixed media on board, 21 x 29.5cm

My artworks investigate the mechanics of human dynamics and the neurological processes that create patterns in our daily lives of which we are often not aware.

I observe my own psychological, sociological and genealogical patterns, as well as those of my immediate circle of friends and family. Although the content of my work is highly personal, the themes are universal. Each artwork, or series of artworks, explores these patterns demonstrating how they can be altered to create new sequences and thus new results.

I believe that we learn through example, through the stories of others, which is why I choose myself and my family and friends as my primary subjects. Therefore, each artwork, whether painting, sculpture, drawing or installation, is laden with personal symbolism.

When delivered in a visual form these concepts become a metaphoric map that seeks to be meaningful for both the subject and the viewer.

Tanmaya Bingham, 2010

▶ TANMAYA BINGHAM: WINNER IN MIXED MEDIA WORKS AT 'WIDE OPEN 2'

Congratulations to Tanmaya Bingham whose work, 'Royal Kebab 1' (pictured left) won the mixed media category of the 'Wide Open 2' show at the Brooklyn Waterfront Artists Coalition in NYC. The exhibition, whose jury included Nat Trotman the Associate Curator of Contemporary Art at the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, received close to sixteen hundred entries from which only ten percent were accepted. 'Wide Open 2' is on view until 27 March 2011 at the Brooklyn Waterfront Artists Coalition.

Bingham's work is concerned with her own "psychological, sociological and genealogical patterns".  Her narrative work is personal and "investigate the mechanics of human dynamics and the neurological processes that create patterns in our daily lives of which we are often not aware."

Left: Tanmaya Bingham, 'Royal Kebab 1' 2010,
colour pencil + mixed media on board, 38.5 x 38.5cm