Home and Hosed

By Sharne Wolff

The public perception of Sydney’s Sutherland Shire, commonly known as ‘The Shire’, has been shaped by popular culture. First came the 1979 novel Puberty Blues. A decade later, the ground-breaking ABC TV series Sylvania Waters brought ‘reality TV’ to Australian homes and last year it was followed by a revamped TV ‘dramality’ named The Shire.  The exhibition Home and Hosed, a show of new art by emerging and mid-career artists – all of whom have ties to the area – tells a very different cultural story of Sydney’s southern suburbs.

Ceramicist Lynda Draper sources ideas for her sculptures from junk shops and is interested in exploring the connections between domestic objects and memory. Home and Hosed examines that idea with particular relevance to the period of her adolescence in The Shire. The outlandish performance artist Anto Christ, co-founder of ‘The Colour Parade’ of fashion and wearables, displays examples of her psychedelic crochet sculptures, which viewers will be invited to look at as well as try. Christopher Dolman says his interests lie ‘in the obsolete, the outdated and the unpopular’. His video in this show explores the apparent split between sport and art and ideas of failure common to both. Other artists include John A. Douglas, Gemma Messih, Marc Etherington, Nicole Kelly and Sieglinde Karl-Spence.

During the same period, photographer Marian Drew will also exhibit her latest series of photographs entitled Ornamental (Royal National Park) at the Gallery.

Until June 30.

Hazelhurst Regional Gallery, Gymea

www.sutherlandshire.nsw.gov.au/Arts_Entertainment/Hazelhurst

Pic: Christopher Dolman, jumprint 2012, digital video. Courtesy the artist and Hazelhurst Regional Gallery.