A new gallery! Well, perhaps not exactly “new”; A-M Gallery opened in Newtown with its first exhibition in August last year. However this is our first visit and we liked what we saw.
“Shifty Women and Dirty Rats” was a collaborative exhibition by painter Sharon Kitching and sculptor Cathy Weiszmann. Their work is a series of studies of criminals of Australia’s past, the 1920s to be more precise. The exhibition featured some deeply emotive portraits in oils and bronze. The visceral and dirty nature of Weiszmann’s sculptures worked perfectly with the exhibition themes. On the other hand, Kitching’s paintings were reminicent of painters like Blackmann and sometimes Bacon, giving her figures an appropriately frightening aesthetic.
It was wonderful to experience such a cohesive exhibition featuring two talented artists working in very different mediums. We’re not sure of the connection between the two artists but they definitely make a fantastic team. Images of the development of the show can be seen on their blog, well worth a look.
The exhibition runs until 3 March.