Garry Foye
Site - Specific 24 May - 18 June, 2008 Opening Tuesday 27 May, 6-8pm
My work relates to landscape, not in the usual sense of copying nature, but the landscape our society creates. Compositions are derived from structures, surfaces and textures left in the ever-changing wake of continuous progression and replacement. Memories too play a large part, as I attempt to evoke a sense of place in almost all of my imagery. The subject for work ranges from redundant mining areas, such as the old shale mine at Glenn Davis in the Capertee Valley, or the gold fields of Hill End, to the weathered terrace houses in the inner Sydney suburbs such as Balmain, with their layers of over-painting that suggest a nostalgia for a time gone, but not forgotten.
My fascination with mine-sites started at an early age. As a child I lived for five years at Glen Davis. This experience left me with a sense of wonderment and awe at the magnificence and majesty of the shale oil mine and refinery, which dominated the vista at Glen Davis. During this time, I also travelled with my father and his mates, to various towns and mine-sites within the region, whilst they hunted and trapped Rabbits (Our diet, for much of the time that I lived at Glen Davis, consisted, more often than not, of rabbit, mushrooms, and bread and dripping, with the occasional piece of fruit, procured by devious means, from the local orchard).
Many of the places we visited on these excursions, such as, Sofala, Hill End and Kandos, also left me with indelible memories. I have re-visited these areas on many occasions since leaving Glen Davis, and am always amazed at the way, memories of recent sojourns to these sites, permute with childhood memories once I'm back home, working in the familiar territory of my studio. And despite my intentions to the contrary, much of the resulting imagery is often resolved only through a combination of elements relating to both the past and the present.
Whilst my fascination with mine-sites stems from my childhood days, as an artist, I feel that there is more to my connection with this subject. There always seems to be more than just the visual happening. Something more elusive, something "beyond", that I am driven to interpret.
Garry Foye
Sofala Elegy
141x141cm acrylic on canvas
click here to see images from previous shows
Garry Foye
Born in Sydney 1946
Solo Exhibitions
Selected Group Exhibitions
Awards and Prizes
Collections
Blacktown City Council - Muswellbrook Regional Art Gallery- Maitland City Art Gallery - Fairfield City Council - University of Western Sydney, Macarthur - Westway Bus and Coach Service - Fairfield Festival of the Arts Acquisitive Collection - Cessnock Art Society Collection - HowSten Propriety Limited - L.A. Kennett Enterprises - South Western Sydney Institute of TAFE - Justice (Ret) Roderick Pitt Meagher Collection, and private collections in Australia and Europe. Bibliography
Darren Mara, Northern District Times, Page 9, 3rd October 2007
Meldi Arkinstall, Northern District Times, Page 26, 7th March 2007
The Weekly Times, Page 31, 7th March 2007
Catalogue - Doug Moran National Portrait Prize, State Library of NSW, 2007
Catalogue - Adelaide Perry Drawing Prize, Adelaide Perry Gallery, PLC, Croydon, 2007
Brendan Berecry, Northern District Times, Page 9, 11th October, 2006
Australian Religious Diary 2007 "Special Blake Prize Edition". David Lovell Publishing Pty Ltd, Vic
Catalogue - Gallipoli Art Prize, Gallipoli Memorial Club, Sydney, 2006
Catalogue - Adelaide Perry Drawing Prize, Adelaide Perry Gallery, PLC, Croydon, 2006
Catalogue - Blake Prize for Religious Art, Sir Herman Black Gallery, Sydney, 2005
Australian Art Review, www.artreview.com.au/news/article848asp <http://www.artreview.com.au/news/article848asp> , exhibition review,
"Only Drawing" Robin Gibson Gallery, April 2005
State Library of NSW website, www.sl.nsw.gov.au/exhibitions/moran <http://www.sl.nsw.gov.au/exhibitions/moran> , 2004
Catalogue - Doug Moran National Portrait Prize, State Library of NSW, 2004
Janne Selento, Northern District Times, Page 27, August 4th 2004
Michelle Fernandes, Sydney Morning Herald, Domain Events, Page 3, 29th May 2003
NSW TAFE Student Excellence Awards Presentation Program, Cover Page image, (Portrait of Paul Miller)
National Trust, S.H. Ervin Gallery, Salon des Refuses 2003. www.nsw.nationaltrust.org.au
Southern Sydney Institute of TAFE, www.ssi.tafensw.edu.au (News) Salon des Refuses 2003
TAFE "InSSight Quarterly" Magazine, Page 4, April 2003
Donna Sawyer, Northern Districts Times, "Life Magazine", Cover page, March 26th 2003
Terri Dodd, Australian Artist No 218, August 2002, volume 19 No2
Sydney Morning Herald web site, www.smh.com.au, Archives, Archibald Prize 2002
Southern Sydney Institute of TAFE, www.tafensw.edu.au/news/Archibald.htm
Jane Igoe, Mosman Daily 27th June 2002
Donna Sawyer, Northern Districts Times "Life Magazine" Page 4, 12th June 2002
Arts Alive News, April-August 2002, Issue No15
Catalogue - Jacaranda Acquisitive Drawing Award, 2000, Grafton Regional Gallery and
Touring Regional Galleries, NSW, QLD, VIC, 2001
Catalogue - Artworks Publishing, 1999 Distribution catalogue
Records of the Holdsworth Galleries 1969-1996 Gisella Scheinberg, Australian National
Library, Canberra. ACT
Armidale Express, 18th March 1999
Armidale Independent, 12th March 1999
Angela Bate, Moree Champion, 11th February 1999
Catalogue - "No Bloody Gum Trees" Broken Hill City Art Gallery/Moree Regional Gallery
Artists and Galleries of Australia, Max Germaine (CD-ROM), 1996
Mach II Vol 5 issue 12, Barry Gazzard, UWS, Macarthur, 1996
Catalogue - Jacaranda Acquisitive Drawing Award, 1996, Grafton Regional Gallery
Catalogue - Mary Alice Evatt Art Award, 1995, Casula Powerhouse Arts Centre
Catalogue - "55 Degrees", Graduating Students Exhibition, University of Western Sydney,
Macarthur, 1994
Catalogue - "Technically Speaking", Liverpool College of TAFE 1991Published
1998 Artworks Publishing, Open-ended poster edition, International distribution.(Relic 1 & Relic 2)
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