Art News

A Paddock Full of Cows and Chairs, a new exhibition created by eight locally based young artists, opens tonight, December 19, at the Lismore Regional Art Gallery.

The artists were asked respond to the show's title with an installation. The results are varied, dynamic, fun and full of energy.

"A Paddock Full of Cows and Chairs is a celebration of the sublime and the ridiculous. It also takes a serious look at issues concerning the present drought and the effects of land clearing," said curator Melissa Hirsch, who recently had a work selected for the prestigious Blake Prize for religious art. "One of the main intentions behind this exhibition is to encourage and provide an opportunity for regional artists to experiment outside of their normal, and often commercial, practices."

The result is anything but normal. From a six-foot high wooden installation reminiscent of stained glass windows to soil paintings on the very walls of the gallery, the exhibition is both challenging and deliciously different.

Artists exhibiting include Brent Young, Cal MacKinnon, Luke Fahey, Amber Gooley, Graham Deller, Elizabeth Barnes Hewlett, Anna Nordstrom and Mirko Ritlop.

• A Paddock Full of Chairs, sponsored by Norco, opens tonight at 5.30pm and continues until February 1, 2003.

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