Risk/Reward

ABOVE: Michael Lindeman Cheese (detail), 2021 Acrylic on canvas, rat traps 265 x 730 cm Photo credit: Mark Pokorny

By Ursula Sullivan+Joanna Strumpf

We are sitting on a plane, coming back from a lightning trip to Brisbane for the Institute of Modern Art (IMA) annual gala. We are dashing home to Sydney, before any new COVID-19 warnings or the border closes – such is the state of travel these days. It was a beautiful evening, full of excitement, expectation and genuine support for the institution, the oldest independent art space in Australia. The team did a great job, raised lots of money and honoured two great Queensland artists. All in all, a good night.

Pre-Coronavirus, these sorts of events were a regular occurrence. But in the pandemic era, the very idea of organising a large event for hundreds of people, flying in from all over the country becomes a risky business. This, of course, makes it all the more fun for those attending, and all the more stressful for those organising.

Covid aside, taking risks is something that artists do every single day of their lives.

For Lynda Draper, who creates impossibly large and elaborate sculptures from intricately woven strands of clay – risk seems ever present. A master ceramicist for over three decades, these brilliant works seem to teeter on the edge, defying the limits of the medium with each sculpture taller and more complex than the last. Up close, it is their interconnectedness that gives them their inherent strength, allowing Draper to dare risk taking them to ever greater heights.

Risk is also an inherent part of Michael Lindeman’s work – shining a light on the contemporary artworld and examining his own place within it. Even though he relies on humour to soften the blow, he doesn’t shy away from the big questions – questions about class, taste, and power that are confronting and, at times, uncomfortable. The centrepiece of his upcoming exhibition, will be Cheese, 2021, a text-based painting surrounded by dozens of rat traps installed directly on the gallery walls and set to snap shut at any moment. It is a work full of tension and primed with danger. Like much of his work, if we’re not careful, we all risk getting caught.

In this issue, we enter the ever-changing inner world of Yvette Coppersmith, who recently joined the S+S family; we preview Seth Birchall’s latest exhibition Health and Happiness, for the University of Sydney’s Verge Gallery – a stunning meditation on nature; we go home with Kirsten Coelho to learn a little more about her collecting habits; and travel, if only in these pages, to Downtown LA, to the studio of Jemima Wyman where she is busy chronicling images of smoke relating to protests for our September exhibition.

Last Word goes to Dr Paul Donnelly, on the University of Sydney’s exquisite, newly minted Chau Chak Wing Museum, and on their first exhibition Object/Art/ Specimen – which braves six complex themes with over 300 objects pulled from the three very different collections that now make up the new museum.

Risk has never been so clearly apparent in our lives. While we understand the necessary constraints required for the health and safety of all, we still feel the desire to live intently, deeply and connect with others. It’s a precarious balancing act, but one for which we can look to artists for inspiration.