Mirror art at University of Sydney

"IOU" by Mikala Dwyer  

MEDIA RELEASE COURTESY OF: UNIVERSITY OF SYDNEY

Contemporary reflections on the art of mirrors are in exhibition at the University of Sydney galleries.

Classic mirror works from the 1960s and 1970s are joined by contemporary mirror art in a new exhibition at the University of Sydney’s Tin Sheds and Verge Galleries.

Mirror Mirror – Then and Now will be officially opened on next Thursday (March 25) by Penelope Seidler at the Verge and Tin Shed galleries. These two galleries on City Road will exhibit the contemporary end of the University’s three-part exhibition, Mirror Mirror – Then and Now.

They feature major works, several made specifically for the exhibition and shown for the first time in Sydney, by Australian artists Robyn Backen, Christian Capurro, Peter Cripps, Alex Gawronski, Callum Morton, Eugenia Raskopoulos, Jacky Redgate, Robert Pulie and Mikala Dwyer.

The University of Sydney’s University Art Gallery features historic avant-garde mirror works by seminal artists from the Sixties such as Richard Hamilton, Yoko Ono, Art & Language and Robert Smithson. Mirror Mirror – Then and Now is a joint project by the Institute of Modern Art Brisbane and the University Art Gallery, University of Sydney, in association with Samstag Museum of Art Adelaide.

Exhibition curator Dr Ann Stephen says she was interested in exploring how contemporary artists use, and abuse, aspects of late Modernism. “I wanted to see the correspondences that reverberate between the 1960s and now,” says Dr Stephen.

“Today mirrors appear to be a ubiquitous medium for many artists but there are fascinating links to early Conceptual art, Performance and Earthworks, which first used actual mirrors to draw attention to the specifics of location and the act of looking itself.

“The works in Mirror Mirror –Then and Now show artists’ continuing fascination with mirrors, particularly the way they appear almost everyday but are full of conundrums, engaging the viewer and artist alike in all kinds of puzzles.”

The opening of Mirror Mirror – Then and Now will coincide with the launch of the exhibition publication, Mirror Mirror – Then and Now, which features essays by Dr Stephen, senior curator of the University Art Gallery and art historians Andrew McNamara and Keith Broadfoot.

To celebrate the opening of this exhibition, the University of Sydney’s three galleries will hold free Saturday art talks on Saturday, 27 March, 2010 and Saturday, 1 May, 2010.

Art talks program:

Saturday, 27 March, 2010:

2pm-3pm: Talk by art historian and commentator Andrew McNamara at the University Art Gallery

3.30pm-4pm: Artist talk with Eugenia Raskopoulos at the Tin Sheds Gallery

4pm-5pm: Artists talk with Robert Pulie and Alex Gawronski at Verge Gallery

Saturday, 1 May, 2010:

3.30pm-4pm: Artist talk with Mikala Dwyer at the Tin Sheds Gallery

4pm-5pm: Artists talk with Robyn Backen and Jacky Redgate at the Verge Gallery

All three galleries – the University Art Gallery, Tin Sheds Gallery, Verge Gallery – will open on these days from 11am to 5pm.

Exhibition details:

Mirror Mirror – Then

Venue: At the University Art Gallery, War Memorial Arch, northern entrance to the Quadrangle, University of Sydney.
Phone: (02) 9351 6883.
Opening times: Gallery open Monday to Friday, 10am to 4.30pm, Sundays noon to 4pm. Special Saturday openings on 27 March and 1 May, 2009 from 11am to 5pm. Closed Easter holidays.

Free entry, all welcome.

Mirror Mirror - Now

Venue: Tin Sheds Gallery, Faculty of Architecture, 148 City Road, University of Sydney.
Date: 25 March to 1 May, 2010
Phone: (02) 9351 3115.
Time: Galleries open Monday to Friday, 11am to 5pm, closed Sundays. Open Saturdays (except Easter) from 11am to 5pm. Closed Easter holidays.
Cost: Free entry, all welcome.

For more information visit the Sydney University website herehere and map gallery locations here.