AMILTON D E S I G N G L A S S The artwork of Jeffrey Hamilton

At the beginning of August I took time out from my usual Saturday afternoon work to view a rather special exhibition by my friend Michael Galovic. Michael is one of the very few icon painters working in Australia. He is exceptionally talented and not only produces traditional icons but makes very contemporary paintings, drawing on his rich ethnic background and traditional training while commenting on the contemporary milieu.

As you can see there was lots of gold and silver. It made for a beautiful exhibition, in a beautiful location. All Saints Anglican, Hunters Hill is renowned for its superb stained glass windows, including two works by the studio of Edward Burne-Jones.

Much of Galovic's recent work has focused on Australia's Indigenous heritage and this exhibition was actually a launch of his new book Uluru.

One particularly profound work was a painting juxtaposing the resurrection of Christ with the destruction of the World Trade Centre, shown (above, right).

With only about a dozen pieces, "Art That Transfigures" was a modest exhibition, in danger of being overwhelmed by the scale of its environs, but in fact the works themselves are so beautiful and powerful that it was immensely satisfying.

Last weekend I attended an opening of a group show by my friend Di Holdsworth at Stella Downer Fine Art in the Dank Street complex in Waterloo. Di has two delightful new assemblage works in the show, along with two shown at the Museum of Sydney exhibition "City of Shadows"

While there I was captivated by an exhibition in the Depot Gallery by Merrick Fry, an artist of whom I had heard but remained unfamiliar with his work. I found a strong empathy with Fry's debris and found object constructions. Although I have such little time spare to indulge my passion for constructionist art these days, it is heart warming to see the genre being embraced with such enthusiasm and indeed gaining ground. Merrick's work is truly a tour-de-force of assemblage/found object/bas-relief/constructionist sculpture.

As you can so easily apprehend from the above images, Fry's body of work is full of dry humour, whimsy and wit whilst remaining rigorously eloquent. His neat execution withstands close scrutiny yet he is by no means precious about what goes with what or for that matter how his materials may have been manipulated. The glass artist purist may well throw up their hands in horror at mixing slumped glass with formed perspex but in context it works, and here context is everything.

The exhibition continues until Saturday June 20th, with the artist attending 11am - 6pm Tuesday to Saturday. The Depot Gallery, 2 Danks Street Waterloo.

Portrait photos by Tony Grech