Art Bright as a Button

Think of those magic times spent in family around a huge puzzle. Think of the excitement of finding the right piece to fit the right empty space which was there just waiting to be discovered and covered. Think of all the times when, passing by the table where the puzzle lay under construction, suddenly and quite unexpectedly another piece was spotted and added to the work in project. Think of the pure joy and sheer feeling of achievement when the very last piece was fit into the whole picture! Those are happy memories many of us are lucky enough to have in our minds.

Touching Wood

“In all things of Nature there is something of the marvellous”, said Aristotle and, yet, not everybody has the capacity and/or the sensibility to see that. We have to be grateful for the talent of artists who can help us rise above our limitations to actually see how much beauty there can be in materials we tend to simply ignore.

Let there be Beauty…

Beauty is in the eye of the beholder, so goes the saying. And, indeed, very often what looks trivial or even unattractive to some may contain in itself the very seeds of Beauty. It takes the sensitive eye of an artist to be able to create Art from materials as common and uninteresting as industrial nails, toothpicks, corks, eggshells, coffee beans or even paint brushes.

Evanescent Beauty

Picture yourself walking on your daily routines and stumbling on a huge hole on the ground which only yesterday wasn’t just there. You falter, doubt your senses and feel a vague sensation of dizziness while you freeze your steps for fear of falling into it. At a second and more attentive observation, however, you realize to your bewilderment that what lies on the pavement right under your eyes is but a 3D drawing that looks so realistic you could swear, at first sight, that it was, in fact, a hole.

Blowing in the Wind

Imagine freshly washed linen hanging on endless lines, neatly arranged and put on to dry.  Finnish artist Kaarina Kaikkonen uses second-hand clothing, and mostly hundreds of discarded men’s shirts and jackets, to create huge installations which have been raising contradictory opinions and political controversy, which immediately reminds us of the open air laundries of Mumbai, for instance.

The Art of Peace

Peace begins with a smile, said Mother Teresa of Calcutta. And, indeed, a smile can be our first reaction when we set eyes on the art objects created by Sonia Rentsch in her “Harm Less” series (2013). In fact, she composes guns, grenades, bullets and other weapons by resorting exclusively to organic products, such as flowers, leaves, seeds or roots, thereby completely neutralising the lethal power associated to the objects she ironically mimics.

Sonia Rentsch is a Melbourne-based Still Life Artist, who graduated from Industrial Design at the Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology, Australia. After successful professional experiences, she has ventured into working alone, following her belief that “there is beauty to be found in everything”, to quote her.

From Rags to Riches

Ghana or Nigeria. Western Africa. A region of the world where everyday life is made of poverty, hunger, starvation, struggle for survival; where people find a use for everything they can get hold of; where people cherish the rags they wear as treasures they would never discard.

Weaving Webs of Wonder

 Consider transparency, translucency. Consider something delicate, subtle, vaporous, ethereal. Consider gauze, lace, tulle. No, we are not thinking of ballerinas’ tutus, wedding dresses, ball-gowns. We are introducing you to the wonder that is the very essence out of which Benjamin Shine’s most recent artworks are made.

“Magic Mirror in my Hand…”

Human-shaped, life-sized mirrored sculptures by Rob Mulholland strategically placed within urban, rural or natural surroundings, camouflaged by its very essence or becoming intriguingly conspicuous, trigger the most unexpected reactions from viewers and passers-by.

Wondering in Wonderland

This is an invitation for all of you to join us in the magic process that metamorphoses scrap material, wastes, discarded items and so many other rejected objects into works of art. To the wonder of our eyes and senses and through the hands of talented artists, what seems to most of us to be merely trash turns into objects of sheer Beauty.