Here’s somewhere I’ll gladly while away the hours.
Re-opened in February following a relocation to Clarence Street, Sydney, the Gaffa, a three level space devoted to showcasing the work of emerging artists and designers, is the kind of venue that the Sydney CBD has been waiting for.
‘A community platform for contemporary arts’ situated quite conveniently near my ugly bus stop at Town Hall, the Gaffa houses 4 separate Galleries, a café, an Arcade space and a Studio/Workshop on the 3rd floor to house resident studio artists (object and jewellery design).
The first trip here was actually a few days ago for the latest group exhibition opening on the 8th of April (running till the 20th) and while I did get stuck right in (snap snapping away) I’ll talk about each floor separately, because there is A LOT to get through… The Gaffa, while small has an amazing array of artists with completely different approaches and not much escapes my attention. Anyway, so lets start with the ground floor…
The ground floor exhibition named the “Arcades Project” ,presumably after writer Walter Benjamin’s famous unfinished work of the same name, currently features the works of three different artist/designer groups and is definitely worth an inquisitive meander…
Vert Design, in their clean, white space showed off an impressive array of locally produced, eco-friendly, fully functional and eye catching blown glass objects in simple and beautiful organic shapes and a variety of colours, luminous brights and patterns. I think I saw the designers themselves testing out their carafe as a wine decanter later in the evening, its beautifully rounded and transparent form seemed to work pretty effectively…
Above photo: Left: Vert Designs from Gaffa.com.au Right: Stilla Carafe, product of the Year for Vogue Living 2009.
Exhibited opposite the corridor was the girly paradise of Bams and Ted, a sister artist and stylist duo, whose goal is to create a series of immersive and theatrical scenes based on the previous life of the ‘arcades’ as police cells. The latest (and sadly last) installation is based on the character Jessica from 'Murder She Wrote". The pussy-bow blouses, typewriters and cashmere cardigans for winter PLUS all of the furnishings in the cell will be for sale… Someone hide my wallet!
Above: Bams and Ted. Left: Jessica Installation (photo by myself). Right: from gaffa.com.au
Last but not least is the stunning, optically dizzying set of Emma Elizabeth. A SOYA and Peroni Young Designers award finalist, her ‘sliZed’ furniture collection, later to be exhibited at the Milan Design Furniture Fair, was fairly indicative of the calibre of her interior styling and design work. The dramatic and graphic nature of her work harks back to Yayoi Kusama (whom the Gaffa cites as her favourite artist). Inspired by the ‘technique of slicing and how it is an art form’ sliZed entailed an exploration of sliced visual cues in the urban and fashion environment “from zebra crossings, digital numbers to YSL latest "IT" heel”.
Top: Emma Elizabeth's "The Last SliZed Supper" taken by myself. Bottom: from Emmaelizabethdesigns.com
The linear black and white vertical and horizontal configuration definitely had an impact on my pupils and had me imagining stripes floating around the whole evening. An exploration of one of the simplest of configurations done so well is I think testament to the Emma Elizabeth’s talent and bravery, having her work reviewed by the Phillippe Starck Network I think is proof enough. I’d love to see this styled with Ricardo Tisci’s geometric striped Spring 2010 Collection for Givenchy here. Licorice Allsorts anyone?
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