Australian Financial Review

L4 THE AUSTRALIAN FINANCIAL REVIEW
MAY 29-31
●
2009
WHAT’S ON BRISBANE
American Impressionism and Realism: A Landmark
Exhibition from the Met opens at the Queensland Art
Gallery on May 30. Direct from The Metropolitan
Museum of Art in New York, the exhibition of 34
artists will run until September 30. It has been
curated by H.Barbara Weinberg, the Alice Pratt
Brown Curator of American Paintings and Sculpture
at the Met, and features paintings by impressionists
John Singer Sargent, Childe Hassam, Mary Cassatt
and William Merritt Chase; realists John Sloan and
William Glackens; and symbolist John White
Alexander (whose 1895 oil painting Repose is
pictured), as well as a selection of works by James
McNeill Whistler, Winslow Homer and Thomas
Eakins. The exhibition highlights how Australian
artists responded to key artistic developments of the
time with paintings by Tom Roberts, Charles Conder,
Frederick McCubbin and Rupert Bunny also
included. See www.qag.qld.gov.au.
SYDNEY
NG Art Gallery has works by
six female Australian artists
in . . . Of Nature. It features
Ann Cape, Lizzie
Buckmaster Dove, Mia Ng,
Susan O’Doherty, Mariola
Smarzak and Vicky White,
and will run until June 6.
Each artist has depicted an
interpretation of the
Australian landscape – the
contrast between natural
beauty and destruction.
Figurative painter Cape
captures the silence, spirit
and ancient presence of
outback Australia through
earthy colours and textures.
Buckmaster Dove’s The Widening Sea (pictured above) uses paper and
Ng’s delicate works seek to reflect the stillness of land and culture.
3 Little Queen Street, Chippendale. (02) 9318 2992.
HOBART
Until June 14 the Tasmanian Museum and Art Gallery in Hobart will
host an exhibition by Australian artist Patricia Piccinini (Animal
Tansgenic Skull for the Young Family, pictured). Piccinini has received
international attention for her sculptures, digital environments and
images that compel viewers to think about ecology and biology. This is
the first major survey of Piccinini’s works in Tasmania. 40 Macquarie
Street, Hobart. (03) 6211 4114 or see www.tmag.tas.gov.au.
LIFE L04
BEST OF
THE REST
Company B is presenting Brendan
Cowell’s play, Ruben Guthrie,
opening May 27 at Belvoir St
Theatre in Sydney. Directed by
Wayne Blair, the comedy stars Roy
Billing, Megan Drury, Geoff Morrell,
Torquil Neilson, Adrienne Pickering,
Toni Scanlan and Toby Schmitz
(pictured below). Ruben is 29 and a
hot shot creative director of
advertising agency Subliminal.
Engaged to a model, he’s got the
world at his feet and as far as he’s
concerned, it’s unAustralian not to
enjoy a drink. One industry awards
night, too much
tipple topples
him from a hotel
roof and he finds
himself at
Alcoholics
Anonymous.
Until July 5.
$56/$34/$25.
Belvoir St
Theatre, 25 Belvoir Street, Surry
Hills. (02) 9699 3444 or see
www.belvoir.com.au. Also in Sydney,
the Campbelltown Arts Centre is
presenting highlights from its
permanent collection until June 30.
Now & Then features a selection of
pieces collected over 20 years,
including original works by Lloyd
Rees, Joan Brassil, Brett Whiteley,
Rosalie Gascoigne and James
Gleeson. Corner Camden and Appin
Roads, Campbelltown.
(02) 4645 4100. ‘‘Nu chamber’’
group, the Sunwrae Ensemble
(pictured right), are touring
nationally to promote their album,
Autumn Never
Fall. They play
The Prom,
Grote Street,
Adelaide, on
May 30, and
Thornbury
Theatre, High
Street,
Thornbury, on
June 5. In Melbourne, the Kronos
Quartet, presented by the Melbourne
Recital Centre, performs at
Elisabeth Murdoch Hall on June 6.
The Kronos Quartet members are
violinist David Harrington, violinist
John Sherba, violist Hank Dutt and
cellist Jeffrey Zeigler.
www.melbournerecital.com.au.
TRAVELLERS’ PICKS
On June 17 at the Royal Opera
House, Covent Garden, London,
Lulu, by Alban Berg, will be
performed. Antonio Pappano will
conduct this production of the
opera, which is based on Frank
Wedekind’s controversial plays. See
www.roh.org.uk. Also in London at
the National Portrait Gallery is an
exhibition of portrait works by
landscape painter John Constable
(his portrait of Maria Bicknell is
pictured right). Constable Portraits:
the Painter and his Circle runs until
June 14. See www.npg.org.uk. In
Venezuela, June 11 is Los Diablos
Danzantes – the Devil Dancers. The
day before Corpus Christi, the
devils hold a night-time candlelit
mass called the Velorio de los
Diablos Danzantes. Dancing can be
seen in towns within a day’s drive of
Caracas, including San Francisco
de Paula de Yare. The devils dress
in red and yellow and wear papiermache masks. See
www.venezuelatuya.com. The
Singapore Arts Festival runs from
May 15 to June 14. Asian and
western dance, theatre and music
are part of this festival, which
features about 75 performances
from different countries (The
Diamond at Merlion Park, is
pictured above). Highlights include
Grammy award winners Ladysmith
Black Mambazo performing at the
Esplanade Concert Hall and the
Finnish National Ballet’s version of
Anna Karenina at the Esplanade
Theatre.
See www.singaporeartsfest.com.