Review: Wild Lands exhibition at Linden New Art Gallery

Recently I got to visit the Linden New Art Gallery. The current exhibition that is being held at the moment is the ‘Wild Lands’ exhibition with two sections following different artists and there particular styles of different wild life.

When walking into the gallery on the left side is the ‘Wild Lands’ exhibition, featuring the artists: Chris Mason, Bronwyn Hack, Dionne Cazano, Michael Camakaris, Mathew Grove, and Ruth Howard. This section was particularly interesting especially when looking upon the works of Bronwyn Hack. I was immediately drawn to these pieces because of the rawness that they seemed to have. The first thought that came to mind was “why did this person only want to portray wolves?” The closer and longer I looked at the pieces, the information I gathered from each individual work was that it was telling a story of a lone wolf. The pieces may not be extremely detailed, but the pieces themselves express an emotion that can connect too many people.

Another artist that caught my eye within this section was Michael Camakaris. What I found intriguing about Michael’s was the fact it was in black and white, but it had not only detail, but expressed an emotion within each piece. The pieces stood out to me, because they were quite striking in that I genuinely could not look away from the work. Something about each piece made me feel the need to stand there and stare for a while. Out of the five pieces he had on display my favourite would have to be the owl trying to cover up its face with its wings. The reason why this is my favourite is simply because I didn’t know it was an owl when I first glanced at it. It actually looked like a dinosaur with something in its mouth, just the way it is shaped got me thinking it was something different.

An artist that had work within both sections of the gallery was Chris Mason. Chris Mason did sculptures of different animals such as: Buffalo, a parrot, a snake, and a hippo. What I found extraordinary about his work was the amount of detail that each sculpture had. The, I believe it to be a Python, was the largest one. It looked like it was to scale, although I have never seen a python, thank goodness but none the less it was magnificent to see.

The second section on the right side of coming into the gallery was dedicated to Leith Maguire in his ‘Heads or Tails?’ exhibition, connecting to ‘Wild Lands’. Leith Maguire’s work was stunning. It was simplistic and full of detail. When I walked into the room and saw the work, I felt a sense of comfort almost. The gentle lines and the delicate placing of the animals on the paper was so well thought out, that I felt at ease. When seeing the pieces, there is an emotional aspect to them, but instead of portraying the animals in a dimmer light, Maguire illustrates these animals in a way that made me feel like they were not something to be feared. Nothing within this section was my favourite, because I genuinely loved everything in the room.

The exhibition is an arts project Australia exhibition and is curated by Sim Luttin and Melissa Petty, and runs from May 7th up until the 17th of July on 26 Acland Street, Saint Kilda. This exhibition is definitely worth seeing and doesn’t close until July, so you should go check it out.

Wild Lands exhibition is on at the Linden New Art Gallery until July 17th.

Review written by Vanessa Gail Gustilo

Review read aloud by Lauren Klein

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