So pinch and punch for the first day of the month and all that. Sadly some bad calendar management saw me miss the opening night festivities of this show where the Kings Cross based Alaska Projects have sent their 1st XI into the beating heart of Chippendale to do a group show at MOP Projects. I managed to swing by on the weekend with a couple of junior critics who were keen to take on the climbing frame at the nearby park so this was a quick stop.
MOP's non-commercial instincts are mostly charming but this show took it to another level. Today's trick was a group show of 13 artists and a room sheet without numbers and actually a little out of order. It was quite tricky to navigate, as keeping with current contemporary art practices the titles of the work don't give much away. My trick was to find someone whose style you knew and then try and work out the artists adjacent. That took me to Philjames and his 'Untitled' oil on vintage cigarette card (pictured top). I was at uni with Phil so I know we are of similar vintage. Accordingly I loved the Battle of the Planets reference, a real blast from the past and rekindled much fond memories. I really like how Phil does his daubing over existing works, I might need to pick up a few vintage pieces to let him work his magic on. Next to Phil was Biljana Jancic whose 'Slalom' the room sheet described as being constructed of aluminium flashing. Well it was shiny so I guess that was the flashing. Sadly the TV wasn't working on my visit so I didn't get to check out the video works but near here was Kate Scardifield's Patterns for Penance. I quite like some of Kate's work and wouldn't be too surprised if this joins the collection at some stage. Kate also has a great website which gets a lot more ticks in my book. I got a little confused in the middle of the space, not knowing which was Nick Collerson and Marilyn Schneider (even more embarrassing as I have one of Nick's paper leaves from Robin Gibson a few years ago), Tom Polo also squeezed a work in here but without being able to jog my memory on the MOP website (no photos, I am going to have to go more silly with iPhone on the next visit) I can't really place it. Right near the front door were a couple of great works by Bridie Connell. My youngest daughter liked As Above, So Below (pictured below, left) but mainly I think due to the mardi gras beads. You know for $350 this was a complete bargain. Her sign on the other hand, 'Queens X' (below right), whilst admittedly a funny intervention seemed a little too easy.
Points: I will give 3 to Philjames' Mark from Battle of the Planets. 2 to Bridie Connell's sculpture and 1 to Kate Scardifield.
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