The last time this writer reviewed Tacit Gallery, it was its final show for 2024; this is a review of the venue’s last show ever. Tacit began its journey 24 years ago in Thornbury, and relocated a few times, including to Collingwood and its current home Abbotsford. It has helped thousands of artists over that time, many of whom are beyond the ‘emerging artist’ stage and are confident and established enough to put higher price tags on their works. It also professionally represented artists such as Linda Weil, an artist and teacher at the Victorian Arts Society.
Tacit is closing its doors forever due to personal health problems, but the duo behind the gallery decided on a last hurrah, showcasing Elizabeth Colbert’s collection of recontextualised shoes, and Objective Abstraction, a group show featuring over a dozen artists.
Elizabeth Colbert’s show, Inside…Outside, consists of single shoes, each on a plinth, and each an artistic expression unto itself. Ever Onwards is an elaborate, surreal take on a chariot race, with the shoe as the chariot with three horses’ heads out in front, while a row of human-shaped figurines ride behind it. Infection and No Exit both offer nicely subjective statements, while Between the Leaves looks as if it belongs in a fantasy novel, perhaps in the pages of Lewis Carroll or J R R Tolkien, with beautifully subtle textures and an earthy, wooden overall hue.
The group exhibition is extremely numerous and diverse. Richard Birmingham’s colourful abstractions downstairs contrast well with, for instance, Susan Stevenson’s Where We Played upstairs, the latter of which is haunting in its minimalism. T J Bateson’s A RhD+ II 26 appears to hold many mysteries in both its title and impenetrable metallic surface and Stefan Gevers’ tree-like panels similarly hint at hidden symbolisms.
Vietta Korren-Steele’s Untitled – Objective I is a departure from her usual works and Shane McGowan (not to be confused with Shane MacGowan, lead singer of the Pogues) has masterfully mimicked out-of-focus photographs by using cotton rags.
Read: Exhibition review: Cézanne to Giacometti, National Gallery of Australia
The Melbourne arts scene will be an emptier place without Tacit, but it will leave behind hundreds of happy artists, thousands of happy buyers and 24 years of memories. As Dr Seuss once said, “Don’t cry because it’s over. Smile because it happened.”
Tacit Gallery
Elizabeth Colbert’s Inside…Outside and the Objective Abstraction group exhibition will be exhibited until 15 June 2025; free entry.
