Mason Kimber | Oltre La Vista, Sydney

Atrium, 2015, oil on canvas, 56 x 46 cm

Frame/Villa, 2015, oil on canvas, 56 x 46 cm
There’s a sense of harmony in Mason Kimber’s paintings that I’m drawn to. The colours, composition, and semi-transparent layers together create a gentle mood. I like it.

A combination of the purely abstract – shapes and colours, and real life objects – architecture mainly, the paintings in his recent solo show, Oltre La Vista (or ‘beyond the view’) have a simultaneous reality/dream quality. Hints of buildings, times of day (shadows and light are a constant presence), suggested scenes even, seem to be on offering for interpretation, without saying anything too certain. He says he’s interested in the subconscious and in memory, and the way architecture in particular can hold onto the past, so this reflective effect makes sense.

 

Loaded emptiness | Paintings by John Register

These paintings of John Register’s begin with calm for me, then they move to intrigue. The desolate scenes devoid of people say so much in their emptiness of people been and gone and coming, and I wonder what those stories are and who they belong to.

The lone chair does not so much as look empty, but rather on the cusp of being occupied – or recently abandoned.

Reflecting Reflections

 

When I was a kid, I used to stare at the window in my upstairs bedroom at night. I loved looking at the reflected image of our bedroom backwards and wished it was like that; for some reason it seemed that our room would be much cooler that way around.

I am still drawn to reflections, the surface prettiness of colours and pictures where they shouldn’t be and that they are at once so impermanent and impossible to destroy. A reflection in a window, say, might appear and disappear in an instant, and yet it will always come back. A reflected image is fleeting in one sense, always changing under the light that makes it, but will never disappear completely.

These uncatchable images are magical and endlessly intriguing.

 

 

 

 

Pop-tastic Collages | Images and Film by Mat Maitland

I love collage – which you probably know if you’ve followed The Stoop a little. And when it’s moving and totally fantastical like these ones, it especially gets me. I’ve just (maybe a bit late in the game) discovered Mat Maitland‘s work.

Colour King | Painting by František Kupka

 

František Kupka was a Czech painter and graphic artist who truly knew colour and shape. I first saw his work at Prague’s Museum Kampa, and was immediately taken by it. I think being among such an epic collection – of over 200 pieces, including lots of his colour studies and drawings – made me really appreciate what he did. (On a side note, Museum Kampa is amazing. It has an incredible collection of Czech and Central European art, personally collected by Jan and Meda Mládeks, with František Kupka’s being one of their biggest permanent exhibitions.)

Spacey Landscapes | Photography by Ben Sandler

 

A surreal landscape will always get me, especially if the colours are working as they are in this first one. As well as the pink on pink drawing me in, the image reminded me a bit of the Pink and White Terraces, which have always been fascinating. This however, is on the outskirts of Arizona – as much as it might look like a far off planet. They call it the painted desert.

Time Travel with Fashion | Christina Abdeeva

 

Christina Abdeeva‘s photographs, shot exclusively for The Calvert Journal, said to me exactly what she set out to do – show a sense of time travel.

Shiny Dresses & Spinning Colours | Romance Was Born & Rebecca Baumann: Reflected Glory

 

The title of Romance Was Born & Rebecca Baumann‘s collaborative exhibition, ‘REFLECTED GLORY‘ is perfect. Standing in the room it takes place feels like you’re in a glorious treasure chest. You’re literally surrounded by jewel-like colours and shiny, sparkly surfaces that bounce light around the room, so that even the plain parts of the gallery become decorated by pretty patches of colour.

 

Kiwis and Germans Animated | Lifeswap series by Steffen Kreft and William Connor

 

If you have a good/Kiwi sense of humour you’re in for a treat. Lifeswap, an animated series by Steffen Kreft and William Connor, really is BRILLIANT. Based on a literal ‘life swap’ between a Kiwi and a German who meet on the site lifeswap.net, we follow Jörg and Duncan’s experiences as they “discover the idiosyncrasies of life in the other’s culture through the lens of their own.” In the most witty and culturally accurate way, Lifeswap captures the German/Kiwi nuances that make them unique. I love the way each episode starts with the familiar Skype dial tone – the framing device for the series – and there sits the faces of two men, equally showing confusion and delight as they chat about their recent time in the others’ home, with flashbacks show the tales. I’ve just watched the latest episode and am sitting here laughing alone, wanting more.

 

Magical Words | Richard Brautigan’s ‘The Abortion: An Historical Romance 1966.’

The way things have gone, The Stoop has become mostly about visual art. I do still mean for it to be a place to share any kind of art (and maybe other things) that catch my attention though, and today that is a book. I’m not sure, but perhaps this will be the beginning of another pattern…