Hallway features Helen Johnson's work Imagining Alex and Jack (Annual Rental $1265 pa)
and Don Walters Ziggarat II (Annual Rental $1045 pa)
Bedroom features Fiona McMonagle, Panda eyes
(Annual Rental $770 per annum)
25 Cosham Street, Brighton for sale through Kay & Burton, Brighton.
Petrina Hicks, Rosemary's Baby 2008,
Lightjet print, 120 x 120cm
Artbank ebulletin - September 2008
When Artbank Melbourne’s client Spring Design & Developments needed that final touch to compliment their pristine Brighton beach house they drew upon the 500 strong collection held in our Melbourne showroom.
For designers, Rachel and Peter Irons, the property was a labour of love and perfectionism. The choice of artwork needed to represent the individuality of the spaces, and measure against their uncompromising standards.
The central staircase and 7 metre high internal void was partnered with Don Walter’s sculpture Ziggarat II; the executive office displays a Michael Shannon painting from 1973; while the bedrooms are completed by beautiful but edgy watercolours by young Melbourne artist Fiona McMonagle that were painted and acquired just this year. Overall the collection of 9 works spans works on paper, paintings and sculpture from the 1970s to 2008.
“We are so pleased with the artwork & the professionalism we encountered through Artbank. The artwork has really added an extra dimension to the home & is receiving lots of positive feedback.” – Rachel Irons
Marielle Soni, Senior Art Consultant
Congratulations to artist Petrina Hicks for this month winning the 2008 ABN AMRO Emerging Artist award for her lightjet photographic print Lambswool from the series 'The Descendants'.
Having twice been listed by Australian Art Collector magazine as one of Australia's 50 most collectable artists, Hicks has also won the Fisher’s Ghost Art Award and the Josephine Ulrick Photography Award for Portraiture for images of what can only be described as ‘strange beauty’.
We are delighted to announce that Artbank has just acquired Rosemary’s Baby, another image from 'The Descendants', which was shown at Sydney’s Stills Gallery and the Melbourne Art Fair earlier this year.
For all the horror conjured by its title, evoking the classic 1960s film, Rosemary’s Baby is an affectionate, and affecting, dual portrait. Yet it does retain some capacity to disturb. This disconcerting edge seems to come from the gulf that opens up between the vacant coolness of the human sitter and the warm ‘humanity’ of the chimpanzee in her arms.
In Rosemary’s Baby Hicks presents the polished investigation of surface beauty typical of her work, and yet engages us through the chimp’s pathetic attempt to communicate with its aloof human partner and ultimately, with us. In bringing our attention to their impossible relationship, Hicks asks us to think on what it means to be human.
Jackie Dunn, Senior Curator
