The black swan of trespass, by Katherine Hattam; oil on linen, 217cm x 155cm (framed), $17,500; Artwork Photograph by Clare Rae.CREDIT:
Her thing. Colourful paintings incorporating collage and considerable word-play.
Our take.Katherine Hattam has spent her life in and around the Melbourne art scene. Her father, Hal Hattam, was the art world’s obstetrician of choice and a talented amateur painter. Katherine has been exhibiting regularly since the late 1980s, and lately her son, William MacKinnon, has made a name for himself as an artist.
In The Landscape of Language, Hattam’s third solo exhibition at Arthouse, she continues to use old paperbacks as collage in her larger paintings. The book titles invite us to look for meanings that may or may not exist, beyond whatever memories they conjure up in the artist’s mind. Hattam favours old Penguins that would have disintegrated by now anyway.
In terms of colour, and the riotous Australiana that runs through these canvases, this is one of her boldest outings. Hattam’s swans may be black but her kangaroos can be bright blue or pink.
Her subjects range from domestic still lifes to allegorical landscapes. On the way, she pauses to consider the attempts by the First Fleet’s William Dawes to learn the Eora language; environmental issues (symbolised by Hokusai’s menacing wave); and a favourite picture by American master Philip Guston.
In a painting called Pantheon (1973), Guston wrote a list of the artists he most revered. Hattam has undertaken a feminist revision, replacing Guston’s all-male list with a female cast. As statements go, it’s more playful than strident.
Can I afford it? For a well-established artist, Hattam’s prices are very affordable. The most expensive picture in this exhibition is the oil painting, The black swan of trespass (pictured above, 217cm x 155cm), at $17,500. This would equal her existing record price. There are 12 works selling for the low price of $2200. This includes small oil paintings such as Pink kangaroo, Swans dream phthalo, and The friendship garden (each 43cm x 31cm).
Where can I have a squiz? Arthouse Gallery, 66 McLachlan Avenue, Rushcutters Bay, Sydney,
until March 28; arthousegallery.com.au.
AND stateside at Morton Fine Art, 52 O St NW #302, Washington, DC USA.
Our November 16th Open Studios, in collaboration with STABLE, invites the public to tour Morton Fine Art and the creative work spaces of the artists and designers at 52 O Street & STABLE from 12-6pm.
Conveniently located a short walk from the NOMA Metro Station on the Red Line and Mt. Vernon Square/Convention Center on the Yellow and Green Lines, 52 O Street is located in the Truxton Circle neighborhood in Washington DC. Street parking available.
Collecting to Explore ‘Origin, Culture, Form, Function and Race’
This Washington couple has floor-to-ceiling art as well as wearable creations and folk art curiosities.
Tony Gyepi-Garbrah and Desirée Venn Frederic at their residence in Washington. Credit Ting Shen for The New York Times
By Audrey Hoffer
WASHINGTON — Desirée Venn Frederic and Tony Gyepi-Garbrah live in a light-filled apartment in the Trinidad neighborhood of Northeast Washington that is small in size but grand in scope.
The charcoal walls, stretching up to 15-foot ceilings, hold dozens of paintings, prints, photographs, 100-year-old textiles, collages, drawings, pastels, ceramics and antiques, conferring a museumlike aura on the home.
Ms. Venn Frederic is wearing art as well. Her floor-length slip dress, by the Brooklyn-based designer Fe Noel and the Chicago painter Harmonia Rosales, incorporates the image of a Yoruba deity, Oshun. Ms. Venn Frederic said the appeal of the dress was in its “fanciful and disruptive” character.
When the couple met four years ago, they were acquiring art individually. “One of the reasons I took an interest in Tony was because he understood legacy-building with art,” she said. She and Mr. Gyepi-Garbrah, 39, plan to marry later this year.
He is a first-generation American born to Ghanaian parents who works as an information technology engineer. He is also a photographer and painter.
She is of Geechee and Maroon ancestry. She was born in Freetown, Sierra Leone, and raised in Montgomery County, Md. Through her company, Combing Cotton, she pursues her interest in social equity.
“God Head” (2011), top, and “Untitled (Red and Black)” (2010), by Victor Ekpuk. Credit Ting Shen for The New York Times
She also envisions creating a museum of fashion and related ephemera.
These are edited excerpts from the conversation.
You recently hosted a private tour of your art collection as part of the 2019 Collector’s View series sponsored by Transformer [a gallery in Washington]. What was that like?
TONY GYEPI-GARBRAH In true salon style, 75 art aficionados, collectors and artists stood shoulder-to-shoulder talking art, art, art.
How do you select works to buy?
DESIRÉE VENN FREDERIC Meticulously. I don’t merely collect what I like. I’m attracted to works that challenge the linear understandings of origin, culture, form, function and race. I call these aesthetic triggers.
GYEPI-GARBRAH We buy from galleries, art fairs and auctions. We also scour estate sales and private vintage collections. Often we buy directly from the studios of artists with whom we build friendships. I do a lot of research before acquisitions.
Is there a piece with an interesting back story?
GYEPI-GARBRAH The two mixed-media works by Victor Ekpuk. I went oversees to Galerie SANAA in Utrecht, the Netherlands, to acquire “God Head.” During that time I discovered that Ekpuk was represented by Morton Fine Art [in Washington]. They had “Untitled (Red and Black),” so I bought it too. Now the pair is in conversation. Ekpuk lives in Washington and we’ve become friends.
Figurative wood sculptures, made in Ivory Coast. Credit Ting Shen for The New York Times
Top, “Chocolate City” (2010), by Steven M. Cummings, and “Inventions & Patents” (2014), by Charles Philippe Jean Pierre. Credit Ting Shen for The New York Times
Those little wood statues lined up against the wall on the floor look like toys.
VENN FREDERIC They’re Colon figurative sculptures depicting occupations — policeman, doctor, baker — held by colonists in the Ivory Coast between 1893 and 1920. I have a collection of 150.
Your photos capture images that span decades and can be read as a history of our times. How do you think photography represents both society today and in the past?
GYEPI-GARBRAH Photography is a visual documentation of fleeting moments and changing landscapes, and, in this vein, we believe Steven M. Cummings is a master. “Chocolate City” speaks to forced migrations and the displacement of African-Americans from their native lands.
“Fred Meets Fred” is an oversized black-and-white double image of Frederick Douglass that contrasts past and present. A chain dangling lengthwise from top to bottom of the picture separates the two Douglasses. The bicycle wheel symbolizes change and continuance of time.
A sofa in the apartment by Sharla Hammond. Credit Ting Shen for The New York Times
Your couch material is unusual. Did you commission the design?
VENN FREDERIC We acquired the couch from the visual and textile artist Sharla Hammond, who was inspired by “Afro Blue” [a jazz composition recorded by John Coltrane]. The fabric depicts the heads of five Afro-clad icons — Angela Davis, Betty Davis, Pam Grier, Minnie Riperton and Diana Ross.
Above the couch that black-and-white painting seems very in-your-face.
VENN FREDERIC It’s “Cow in the Field” by Andrew Cressman. We operated a gallery in Washington and exhibited his works. I continually approached this painting with a sense of wonder and bought it after the show [in 2015]. It takes up a lot of our wall real estate. I appreciate that some pieces overwhelm, and this is one.
Morton Fine Art: curator's notes 