We Don't Need Another Hero

For the apptly titled group show, We Don't Need Another Hero, curator by Amy-Jo Jory invited artists, writers and friends to create an artwork in response - negative, positive or indifferent - to their hero. The list of accompanying idols was impressive, and hilarious, ranging from Steven Hawking and 'Bruce' [Willis...I think?] to Anais Nin and Helen Clark. There were even some artists referred to!

Those involved chose to express their love, hatred and/or mistrust of famous folks in all manner of ways, making for a thoroughly entertaining and often hilarious exhibition. There were, for the more serious amongst us, plenty of works which engaged with art history and theory as well.

The opening event showcased several performances, including a song by Rory from Gaslight Radio, about Robin Adamson - a taxidermy enthusiast who was jailed for stealing stuffed birds from Sydney Museum.

Another excellent show at Seventh, and a really fun opening.

Congratulations everyone on your great work!

CHRIS LAWRENCE from PHILLY [That's, like, in the U.S.A., Right?!]*

Over the December break, we decided it would be a shame to let Seventh wallow in the heat and overbearing absence of art that an empty gallery so easily suffers from...So we invited an artist from Philadelphia, Chris Lawrence - a soon to be MFA Graduate from the University of Pennsylvania - to come and have a month or so long resdiency in the space, in which he could construct an installation throughout the entire gallery.

Chris rose eagerly to the challenge, and created an immersive and engaging installation, utilising a combination of found objects and

sleek materials. Channeling Jessica Stockholder and Ingvar Kamprad, among others, Chris' main construction appeared as a kind of elaborately broken machine, combining hi-tech electronics and brutally smashed lenghts of timber.

At the closing event, once the work was complete, Melbourne's own My Disco generously performed to the crowd. The event was literally earth shaking. Those guys rock out very loud and hard. Their minimal art-rock instumental jams complemented Chris' work beautifully.

On the whole, a really exciting show. Thanks heaps Chris for making the voyage to Oz and creating such a beautiful show for everyone! And thanks to My Disco for shaking up the foundations a bit...

*apologies Chris for this gross cultural generalisation.

Seventh Super $ell-Out Sale 2009

Whew.

Thank God [He/She's partly to blame] that the festive season is drawing to a close.

A lot has been happening here at Seventh: December saw our annual fundraiser, the Super $ell-Out Sale bring in flocks of art-lovers, collectors and general philanthropic beer-swillers to peruse the goods - and for some - make a lifetime investment in a work of art. The event was a great success, with a 'significant sum' raised for our 2010 program.

Thanks again to all who came and supported us and our artists! The community spirit was flowing freely. And an even bigger, special thanks to all our artist from 2009, and to those from our 2010 calendar who donated work to the sale. You guys are why we're still here.

xo

Opening November 3rd: Wanda Gillespie, Antuong Nguyen & Ross Taylor

In Gallery one was Wanda Gillespie's Swi Gunting, a menagerie of beautifully hand-crafted trolley-like machines commissioned by Wanda from a group of Indonesian craftsmen.

Gallery Two and the Project Space contained :), a collection of digital works by Antuong Nguyen, photographic and video-based, respectively. Images and footage sourced from the web provide the base material for Nguyen's works; his video mash-up of extreme sportspeople has a measured, almost choreoghraphic quality to it, as long distance runners morph into sky-divers and then into synchronized swimmers...

On the Night Screen was Ross Taylor's I Knew She'd Be Back, in which the artist attempts to sweep back the ocean. This poetic, yet absurd gesture embodies the way in which, when it comes to lost loved ones, we may cling so desperately to an unfounded reality...

great stuff.

October 13 - 31: Michael Ciavarella, Kiera Brew Kurec, Salote Tawale & Rosa Tato

In Gallery One is Michael Ciavarella's Hard and Fast, a collection of small-scale canvases and collages accompanied by a large, concrete sculpture on the floor. The sculpture looks like a plinth that's been dug out from the earth or retreived from the bottom of the sea. It's weightiness seems an apt contrast to the airy, sparse and [occasionally] comical wall based works.

In Gallery Two is Kiera Brew Kurec's Dead Life. This enormous festoon occupies the whole space, and emanates vaguely the sound of Easter Litanies from a Ukranian Orthodox church. The pungent odour of plant matter fills your nostrils when you eneter this darkened room, and the sensation of an organic living [or dying] presence is overwhelming.

Salote Tawale's I love you, I REALLY DO, is in the project space. This work contains two parts, a large photocopy blown up to a huge scale of a hand giving the single-finger salute. Simultaneously confronting and hilarious. On the floor next to it is a video of a woman [the artist] doing a really great dance that just makes you smile.

And finally, on the Night Screen we have Rosa Tato's Made in China. This video, comprised of photgraphic stills taken by Rosa during a visit to china, explores the comparisons and contrasts of traditional Chinese garments and the industry that surrounds them.

September 22 - October 10: FELT up, Kate Hodgetts & Sharna Osborne

In gallery one and the project space we have FELT up, the ARI swap [see below] with FELT space from Adelaide. These guys risked life and limb to cart their art over to Melbourne - and what a fantastic show. Very sculpturally orientated, with painting and video as well [even Monte's video works were presented in a spatial manner]. These artists include: Annika Evans, James Marshall, Matt Huppatz, Brigid Noone, Logan MacDonald and Monte Masi.

In Gallery Two is Kate Hodgetts' work Portable, a frenetic video in which a camera scurries through the undergrowth of a typically Aussie forest, accompanied by feedback driven electric guitar. An intense experience indeed.

The large cardboard sculpture is a part of Circuit, a multi-faceted installation by Matthew Gingold. During the Fringe Festival, this modular sculpture was installed in ARIs all around Victoria, and allowed visitors to view - via a webcam and built in modem - gallery visitors in the other venues.

On The Night Screen was Sharna Osborne's The Flummox of Equilibria 7 : Family Tree, in which the artist and several actors played out a kind of ritualistic depiction of family stereotypes, here transformed into absurd characters.

SEVENTH-Up @ FELTspace, Adelaide

So last month we folks here at Seventh packed a bunch of artworks into a tarago and cruised over to Adelaide to have a show there. After 'heading west' and finding ourselves almost at Warnambool, we realised that it was time to get a map. We promptly headed north to join the road that we should have been on the entire time, and after much sing-along singing, bottles of cider and pleasant country scenery, found ourselves in sunny Adelaide [it was night-time and raining when we got there though].

Our Exhibition was hosted by the lovely folks from FELTspace, a little ARI in downtown Adelaide - conveniently located right near some of the best Chinese restaurants in the city. The premise of our show was an 'ARI swap', meaning that once we'd shown over there, the artists from FELT would come over to Melbourne and have an exhibition at Seventh gallery. This idea proved to be very successful, and as a result we now know where the good pubs in Adelaide are.

Pictured are some of the works by artists from the Seventh gallery committee.