Sydney Exhibition
Artist Talk . Sunday 17 December . 3.30 – 5pm
Join us for an Artist Talk on Sunday where Carmel will be opening with a five minute talk on Scratch Art Space and the symbiotic relationship between Scratch and her own art practice, along with a selection of participating artists in the exhibition. It’s a casual affair and drinks will be served.
RSVP here.
Runs 8 – 17 December, 2023
We close the year with a double anniversary celebration – Ten years of operation for Scratch Gallery, and twenty years since we initially set up the studios here in Sydney’s Inner West.
Come help celebrate everything that Scratch and Marrickville are about; working artists, industrial art studios, small independent galleries, and the connections they foster. For this show we’re raising funds by charging a modest commission on sales so come along and help Scratch Art Space move into 2024 and the beginning of a new decade of art action in the Inner West.
We’re incredibly grateful to all the artists listed below for supporting this exhibition. DECADE is the perfect opportunity to see many works from many artists, from recent graduates to incredible artists that have maintained long careers with fresh creative artworks, and they’re all up together for sale for all to share.
Scratch Art Space was founded and established slowly over twenty years by artist Carmel Byrne. Initially set up to support her own practice as a painter, Scratch has evolved into a three blend mix of studios, gallery, and an education studio for life-drawing sessions, art workshops, and art courses for adults.
We have four artists working out of our studios. Maggie Jane, Kaspar Kagi, Caroline Simpson, and Carmel Byrne.
All artists are incredibly supportive of Carmel and her aspirations for the studios and gallery. Maggie Jane works her one day a week helping with the gallery exhibitions and marketing.
We also thank our models who are incredible at keeping the studios alive with life-drawing sessions that are unique in this cozy studio space.
With generous support from
Aliki Yiorkas
Aliki’s practice is interested in the affective quality of objects. During the pandemic lockdown, her attention turned to domestic objects, which oddly brought her comfort and pleasure. The quiet time alone with them, and the immersive act of looking, felt almost reciprocated. She finds character in forgotten spaces, and sees these simple objects as having personalities; they’re inviting and tactile, commanding further investigation.
Carolyn McKay
Carolyn is a visual artist as well as a criminal law/criminology academic at the University of Sydney. Her visual arts training was at Sydney College of the Arts, Julian Ashton Art School and Tom Bass Sculpture School. Carolyn’s research and multi-media artworks engage with criminal justice issues, most recently, regarding crimes in retro motel rooms. She exhibited The Crime Scene Motel Project solo show at Scratch Art Space, Sydney, 2022.
Catherine Fox
A rare treat to have new work from this adored painter included in our salon show, Decade.
Christian Bonett
Christian is a multidisciplinary artist living and working on Gadigal land in Eora/Sydney. Bonett employs installation, ceramic sculpture, painting, and neon elements in his work, referencing iconic Australian cars, road signs, and the urban environments they occupy. Through playful manipulation of context, Bonett provocatively transforms, distorts, and subverts these everyday objects and spaces, challenging our perceptions of these forms to critique and challenge societal constructs of identity, gender, class, consumerism, and environmental concerns.
Geoff Harvey
Geoff Harvey is a respected Sydney artist & art educator who has contributed significantly to the story of Australian art through his broad interest in the human condition, the landscape, environment, history of war & many more themes. His work is widely collected & he is represented in most State galleries including the NGA, AGNSW, Vic, SA, Tas, & many Regional Galleries throughout Australia.
Ken Done, courtesy of the artist
Since his first solo exhibition in 1980, Ken Done has become one of Australia’s most famous artists. His work has been described as the most original style to come out of Australia, and his paintings are in collections throughout the world. He has held over 100 one-man shows, including major exhibitions in Australia, Europe, Japan and the USA. His works have been shown in the Archibald, Sulman, Wynne, Blake, and Dobell Prizes.
Rodney Pople, courtesy of Rodney Pople and Australian Galleries
Rodney Pople is an interdisciplinary artist that works across various mediums such as painting, photography and sculpture. Pople has exhibited regularly in Australia for over 30 years and has held international solo exhibitions in Berlin and Shanghai. He is a multi-award winning artist who received the 2016 Paddington Art Prize, the 2012 Glover Prize, 2014 Fishers Ghost Prize, 2009 NSW Parliament Art Prize and 2008 Sulman Prize. He was recently a finalist in the Gallipoli Art Prize, the Muswellbrook Art Prize and the Glover Prize in 2020, as well as the 65th Blake Prize and the Mosman Art Prize in 2018, and has been selected for the Archibald and Wynne Prize over 12 times since 2000.
Susan Shortridge
Describing her paintings as a “visual diary” of observations. Recording images, objects and settings that present themselves spontaneously. Although her paintings are generally quiet and contemplative, there is an expressiveness in the oil paint that generates a certain energy and vitality.
Miranda Parkes (L) & John Edwards (C, R)
Tina Wheatley
