Nell studio visit - 2 February

So my first function organised for the MCA young ambassadors (something that the MCA runs to try and get us young whippersnappers under 40 interested in contemporary art) was a studio visit to the artist Nell. Nell only runs with one name (which just reminds me of a question I obviously forgot in the Q&A!) and has a interesting little studio in Kings Cross.

It is always great to listen to artists talk about their work, even more so in an intimate and casual setting. I had rsvp'd to this before really doing my homework on Nell but I was glad I did. Nell is about my age and also from my hometown of Maitland so it was interesting to see what influences her given that we would likely have had a number of similar experiences growing up. Another random link is that my employer has a very large tapestry of Nell's up on our meeting room floor. Despite all this I have still not made it to Roslyn oxley9 gallery which represents Nell, an omission I will be sure to cure in 2011.

Pleasantries out of the way, what about the art? It was very interesting to see such a broad collection of her work: some early, some recent, and some in process. I liked the ghosts stuff that she did, very pacman, and enjoyed some of the titles including the very Phantomesque "ghost who walks". Her large text based black and white paintings were quite interesting and I will be keen to see how the collection of AC/DC t-shirts she has sprawled over the floor morphs into her next work. A buddhist robe made from AC/DC t-shirts gave an inkling but this was to be paired with a sculpture.

Points - 3 for Nell, a very gracious and creative host. 2 to the MCA team organising this and 1 to artist Lionel Bawden who has a little cameo appearance in Nell's talk courtesy of a very small pencil sculpture of his that Nell has.