Obscura – Joshua Wiffen

Since its inauguration a little over a year ago, Gallery: 5 Crown Lane has hosted a number interesting, well attended exhibitions and events, thereby cementing its place in the cultural fabric of the Illawarra. 2012 now sees the end of its first 12 month artist residency with the culminating exhibition ‘Obscura’ by Joshua Wiffen.

Wiffen has spent the residency period experimenting and exploring his creative practice whilst at the same time being heavily involved in curating and organising exhibtions in the gallery space. The resulting exhibition is an installation blending fine art ideals with contemporary public practices albeit adapted to the confines of the gallery environment. Some of the work on display has been represented in galleries in both Queensland and Victoria.

‘I have worked with very personal themes based around obscurity, as the title suggests, this references aspects of my personal life and method of creative practice but moreover its speaks of the hidden, these things that are there although you may never see them.’ – Joshua Wiffen

Gallery: 5 Crown Lane is proud to present the artists first exhibition of 2012 and would like to extend an open invitation to join us at the opening of ‘Obscura’ Friday 3rd February 7pm.

Gallery: 5 Crown Lane is open for viewing, sales and enquiries Monday – Friday 10am-5pm, Saturday 10am – 4pm or by appointment.

ROCK AND ROLL – An exhibition of local music photographers.

Music Farmers has gathered together some of the best local music photographers to put together an exhibition that will coincide with the launch of their freshly renovated shop. The exhibition features work from :

IAN LAIDLAW
Ian started shooting bands because he couldn’t play an instrument. People liked his work and as a result he now works for several magazines, is a regular photographer on the Australian festival circuit and has shot some of the best bands on the planet.

JODIE MATHEWS
Jodie Mathews is an upcoming local freelance photographer whose passion for concert photography centres on her love of rock music. She loves nothing better than trying to negotiate the stage lighting of a concert whether it be in a dingy pub to a massive concert room. Jodie is no stranger to exhibiting her work, in March/April of this year she made her debut in the exhibition ‘Touch That Space’ with local stencil artist Poncho Army. The exhibition featured her concert photography as well as her photography of anything that inspires her. The exhibition was well received with loads of positive feedback and with many pieces sold. Jodie is currently freelancing for a local venue, takings photos for concerts and events and is also the featured photographer for the local entertainment website Helter Smelter.

BEN LOVELACE
Ben is a photographer from the Wollongong area with a keen interest in music and festival photography, and also low light and travel photography. Ben is a photographer for the Sydney Fringe Festival 2011. This will be my his public photo exhibition.

MURRAY STACE
Murray Stace can pinpoint the exact moment he knew he wanted to become a photographer. When Murray first saw an image by Niklas Carlsson of Anders Fridén, vocalist of Swedish band In Flames his perception of photography and in particular live music photography changed. The image evoked such energy and passion within Murray that since he first saw the image he has tried his best to capture the same energy and passion within his own photography. The photograph of Fridén now sits on Murrays wall, surrounded by the images which it inspired.

The exhibition will run from Wednesday September 7th through until Monday September 12th.

The official opening will be held on Thursday September 8th at 6pm, food and drinks are provided.

iPortrait – Photographs by Le Pie

iPortrait – Photography by Le Pie

‘iPortrait’ is a series of lo-fi portrait photographs by young emerging artist Le Pie. Shot entirely using an iPhone camera and a spotlight, the photographs explore interactions on social networking sites and the facades often created within these forums.

Each model is a friend of the artist and has been shot within his or her own home, using a prop of their choice to slightly obscure the face.
The work explores identity and how the essence of a person may be lost in translation through social networking forums, deliberately or not.

Le Pie states ‘I’m not disrespecting the forums, I have my own pages, what worries me is how easy these forums make it for people to dissimulate, in some ways simultaneously connecting and disconnecting people from others, and reality’.

Each shoot was brief lasting only thirty minutes to an hour with no pre or post production, reinforcing the social comment being made through the works. People are so connected to the world through electronic technology that it creates an immediacy; a photograph is taken on our phone and a minute later it’s messaged, emailed or uploaded on a social network forum for 1000’s of people to see. Le Pie explains, ‘we live in a world of instant gratification where sharing a fragment of what happens in our lives with mostly strangers seems to have replaced real intimacy with people we are in real life relationships with’.

The sense of urgency evoked within these photographs, together with their theatrical nature, creates a dark yet playful aesthetic for the viewer to explore these social topics.

‘iPortrait’ will be held at Gallery: 5 Crown Lane, Wollongong from November 3^rd – November 7^th with the launch on Saturday November 6^th at 7pm.

All welcome. Free entry.
Gallery Opening Hours: 10am-2pm.

 

Distant Lights: Film Night and Postcard Art Exhibition Wrap-Up

Big thanks to all that came out for the Distant Lights: Film Night and Postcard Art
Exhibition on Friday night. An awesome mix of short films and small works for a fundraiser for the UOW Grad Show. Check them out on Facebook and keep up to date with what they’re up to over the next couple of weeks.

Congrats to the Grad Show committee for a wicked concept and smooth night!

Renovation Rescue

We know there’s been a lot of talk on here about all the building that’s been going on in here of late, but – you guessed it; there’s more!

We’ve just had another wall installed as well as the Impedance Records and Verb Syndicate offices  gutted and opened up. Let’s hope the boys can stand each other now with the wall removed.

Here’s a few more progress shots of what’s been going on.

We’ll have some art on here sooner or later!

Promise.

To hell with building bridges, we’re building walls… More of them!

Round two is underway in the great wall race here at the gallery.

Big thanks to Michael and Wiffen for getting their macho-man on this evening getting one of the new gallery walls up on very short notice (and again, budget!)
Got a quick progress shot below but will have some final shots of the full gallery space set up in the next week or so.

If you’re keen on exhibiting, we’re taking proposals for November through to December now. We’ve already had a few submissions so if you’re keen, drop us a line at thepeople@verbsyndicate.com or call (02) 42 28 7513.

The Great Wall

Gallery: 5 Crown Lane will be another chapter in the creative art scene in Wollongong. The large open plan warehouse located in the middle of the CBD previously operated as the retail outlet for indie music store
Music Farmers (Still operating online) The space now houses a combination of businesses who work together servicing the music, creative art and corporate sectors. There are:

Various Industries – Booking and Promotion Agency

Impedance Records – Record Label and International Touring Company

Verb Syndicate – Graphic Design and Visual Art

While we’re still in the process of getting on our feet with the new gallery space there’s a whole heap to do before we launch next month (date to be confirmed)
Painting, moving, rubbish removal, installation, construction – the list goes on.

We’ve been getting it together of late though with the installation of a new wall to expand the exhibiting space. Massive thanks to Brenton and Mick for not only their masculinity and rugged good looks (and beard) but for dropping everything to get it done on a tight dead-line and an even tighter budget.
Check out some of the progress shots below.

We’ll also be keeping you up to date on the official launch of the gallery in the next couple of weeks.

Stay tuned.