On March 16, the Arts Project Australia studio closed due to COVID-19. One hundred and fifty artists were asked to stay home instead of coming into the Northcote studio and gallery, leaving many extraordinary pieces of art behind. It’s time for these works to be seen.
The Day We All Went Home presents 100 artworks by 54 Arts Project Australia artists and collaborating Melbourne-based artists Richard Lewer, Janelle Low and Steven Asquith. The collection spans painting, drawing, photography, digital art, ceramics, textiles and soft sculpture.
Lisa Reid’s The Old Fashioned Cash Register with the Old Paper Dollar Notes and Coins is the collection’s shining star, exemplary of the artist’s unparalleled attention to detail. Another poignant highlight is a politically-charged work by Chris Mason; in Power station with two voluptuous ladies and a helicopter with a big sign, Mason’s signature ladies sit at the base of the work with a power station gushing pollution beyond them. In the same apocalyptic breath, Michael Camakaris’ gas mask collage serves a similar sense of foreboding. These ominous notes are balanced by playful reminders of community wellbeing with Adrian Salvatore’s Brent Harveys VFL/AFL Games Record capturing players in a moment of glory and Lisa Reid’s warm summer holiday resort scene. Then, the collection steps away from the energetic radiations of daily life and provides instants of serenity within intimate portraits by Will Murray and Bobby Kyriakopoulos, and within the soothing formations of Georgia Szmerling’s plant and water abstractions and Warren O’Brien’s windows.
So expansive are the included works, in style, concept and medium, and the artists they represent, that careful, yet indulgent, viewing is encouraged to grasp the creative prowess, as well as insight and rigour, occurring in Arts Project Australia’s studios only a few months ago.
Spend time browsing the artworks within this collection below or download the digital catalogue. If something catches your eye, join us at the auction Sunday, June 28 at 3 pm, as we auction these works to raise much-needed funds for Arts Project Australia.
