IN FOCUS: ARCHIVE

Stanley Abnes’s work is based on everyday life and its beauty. His paintings present glimpses of real life in action, and every piece he creates has a small story behind it: an emotional connection with the artist.

With “Homecoming” or “the Return” pivotal themes in his paintings, the Ingleburn artist specialises in creating scenes from rural India. Stanley, who arrived in Australia just a decade ago, was inspired by great artists in India, who encouraged him to develop the natural talent that saw the untrained artist winning competitions in the school and community.

His burgeoning creativity grew and developed as he continued to work at his art and cultivate his talent. This talent, Stanley explains, passes through the family lineage: “I have not had any formal training in painting or drawing. It is a natural talent which comes from my father and my grandfather before that, I have developed and pursued it with an endless passion.”   MORE

Jeff Galea has been teaching guitar for over 20 years, yet he, too, is still a student.

Galea’s first musical education came from his father, a Maltese immigrant with a flair for folk music. At the University of Sydney, Galea focused on the classical side of things, studying both guitar and composition. He is also interested in popular music, and has played in a band called Undercover for the past few years.

Galea has quite diverse musical experiences, which makes it difficult to classify his style.

“I like composing classical,” he says, “but am drawn towards rock and pop.”

Now, Galea is working on his doctorate in music composition at the University of Wollongong. As part of his studies, he is writing an opera that is an aggregate of his musical background. The work-in-progress is centered on a 16th century siege of Malta by the Ottoman Empire, a conflict between Western Christianity and Eastern Islam. In the opera, Galea relates this clash of values to conditions in Australia today.   MORE

Susanna Moreno started drawing as a child and just never stopped. Today, the artist, born into a family of art appreciators, is inspired daily by beautiful and clever things, and is in the habit of constantly creating.

Susanna’s art is centred on drawings of women in various poses covering a broad range of themes. Her work is mainly figurative, with doodles or ideas in her head ending up as sometimes fantastical and always beautiful creatures. Working solely from memory, Susanna at times produces figures reminiscent of the hugely adored and super quirky Blythe dolls, with their enormous eyes and secret smiles. These dolls have a cult following, particularly in creative circles, and Susanna’s work carries a similar edge.
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Dancing is not just Annette Maie’s job, it’s her passion. “My hobby is my work,” she says.

As a young child, Maie was enrolled in ballet classes and swimming lessons to help strengthen her body. Not only did these experiences impact her physique; the former has influenced her whole life.

“I’m a bit of a dreamer,” she says, glad to have ‘organised’ her life around her interest in dance.

At university, Maie received a degree in physical education, specialising in dance. She also studied contemporary and experimental dance in the United States and completed a PhD at the University of Western Sydney on performance and ritual, her other pursuit.

“I am fascinated by ritual,” Maie says, “and how beliefs are expressed.”   MORE

Its garden has, since its earliest days, been a gathering place for people – a place for celebration, exploration, sharing and creativity. And still today, the Penrith Regional Gallery & the Lewers Bequest remains a place of beauty and imagination, resting on the Western bank of the Nepean River and providing the communities of Western Sydney a vast range of artistic offerings.

The Gallery was established on the site of the former home of leading local artists, sculptor Gerald Lewers and painter Margo Lewers, who were instrumental in the development of modernism in Australia. They bought the property in the 1940s and made it their home and studio and a gathering place for artists.

Interior decoration and detailing, including extensive mosaic work, was completed by Margo. The stunning landscaped grounds were designed by both Margo and Gerald to complement the buildings, their artwork, the environment and their lifestyle.   MORE

Seeking truth. Seeking reality. Seeking God. Seeking answers. Acquiring knowledge.

Rufus Surrealo has traversed a path that took him on an artistic trek through unintentional shamanistic art, travelling by way of fractal geometry, hallucination, projections, sci-fi, philosophy, science, abstraction, metaphysics, art theory, experimental music, and psychedelic and meditative song writing in the search for enlightenment.

Growing up on a farm south west of Sydney, Rufus wrote music and painted abstract art on the walls of huge old mushroom sheds on the property. With sunflowers at the window and farm animals all around, it may sound idyllic but for Surrealo it was a whole lot more than that. In his search for the truth he encountered a deep vein of ‘fool’s gold’ realities: “enlightening and interesting...You know the story, consciousness expansion, enlightenment, worlds inside of worlds, infinities inside of infinities, universes inside of universes....It's crap. Pleasurable, exciting, enlightening ....fool’s gold...and way too much for one farm boy to handle.”   MORE