Anita Sinclair
Exhibition at Fitzroy Library, 128 Moor Street, Fitzroy
26 August - 27 October 2006
A Visit to the Rodin Museum, pen on paper, 17cm x 15cm, 1982
The Hash Dealer in Polly Magoo, pen on paper, 22cm x 15.5cm, 1984
Review by Cressida Fox
I was deeply impressed by the amount of preparation Anita had done for her exhibition at Fitzroy Library: seven wall exhibits, plus ten 70 x 92 cm cards mounted with drawings, stories and poetry for the ten wall mounted glass display cases, showing a total of 57 artworks spanning from early 1970’s to current.
The glass case displays took me through a fascinating journey, a visual journal, through the life of this artist and her many journeys of several kinds: her travels to Europe and Japan, a trip to Thredbo NSW, establishments visited and interactions with the people there, two trips to hospital ... In Case 8, Before the Op, three of the five drawings were done as she went under general anaesthetic. Chloryl Hydrate, early effect showed her own hands, clasping and unclasping in multiple images. In Further In the hands had become simpler line drawings and seeming to gesture the light and airy detachment produced by the anaesthetic. Holding On was a simle line drawing of what looked like a window within a square within a box.
Case 4, Before & after Japan, showed images of Tokyo and Singapore, the PUK Puppet Theatre and its artistic director Taiji Kawajijri. This beautiful, sensitive portrait of the director clasping his hands had a detailed face with the other features left understated, yet beautifully drawn. The PUK Puppet Theatre’s first production during WW2 was “The Emperor's New Clothes”, a bit of fun from another time and place for children in a war torn city. Emperor Hirohito was not pleased: Taiji’s older brother was shot, some of the puppeteers had their hands cut off and the booking office was closed.
Cases 5 and 6 showed images and poetry from Anita’s travels in Paris and Italy, places visited and characters encountered there - the hash dealer in Polly Magoo, Paris, and a visit to the Rodin Museum; Michele waving his hands around and the British lying boringly still in deck chairs at Sorrento, Italy. Anita included a haunting poem on the beauty and allure of the place that was so different to the poverty and filth of Naples and other parts of the world, and described it as being a place where you dare not stay long, or you will stay there forever.
More characters appeared in Case 1 on women, and Case 3 on poetry and theatre. Anita is multi-skilled, having done extensive theatre design and performance work, poetry and puppetry. There were several female portraits and a pedestrian in Case 1, and a delightful charicature of George Bernard Shaw in Case 3.
The seven works on the library wall included three circular works, monoprints with oils and pen, titled Zeus, Comic Book Hero and Comic Book Heroine, the naked torsos of these characters rushing forward with flowing locks. Copernicus Dreaming was a low relief carved wooden sculpture, the biggest work there at 111cm long, a splendid piece. I thought the size and quality of the exhibition and its presentation was quite a heroic effort, and a very enjoyable one.