Sunday Arts Magazine

18 Dec 2016

Michael Foxington, Queer Art Prize, Switchboard, Twelfth Night

Art Prize, Arts, Comedy, Counselling, LGBTIQ, Performing Arts, TV & Film, Visual Arts

This is the last Sunday Arts Magazine for this year.  Everyone will be back in early January 2017. Our hosts today are Brendan and Neil; with David away in Adelaide. Last Sunday Neil went to see a full performance of Handel’s The Messiah at Melbourne Town Hall by The Royal Melbourne Philharmonic Choir and Orchestra. Neil talks about his experience saying it’s an amazing piece of work performed beautifully by the Philharmonic. Brendan reviews the new Star Wars film called Rogue One which is a prequel to the first Star Wars film from 1977. It is a darker film and takes more risks.  The lead character is female but unfortunately she is the only one.  Brendan liked it; it was a good film but not quite at the level of the first trilogy–3.5stars. The next review is of Little Men–a beautifully told film with flawed adults and two young boys feeling the weight of the world on them–4.5stars.  Brendan briefly mentions La La Land which is hotly tipped to win many awards.

Special Guests this Sunday include:

12:40 to 32:43 mins–Michael Foxington is photographer and is here to talk about his work and also The Power of the Image II exhibition at Media House Gallery, 655 Collins Street until 25January 2017.  He’s also being featured at the Photography Studies College (PSC) Summer Exhibition at 65 City Rd, Southbank on Mon to Fri, 9 till 5. Michael taught himself how to use a camera to produce what was in his mind’s eye until he realised there were things he didn’t know he didn’t know. He wanted to do a course and has now completed a bachelor at Photography Studies College (PSC). He most enjoyed fashion photography and collaborating with amazing people to produce great work.  Michael talks more about the collaborative process and working on his own and also balancing the two.  He also talks about inspirations, ideas and his various modus operandi to create the image he wants.  At present he loves strong bold colours and monochromes and creating beautiful images, some of them dramatic and divisive. He didn’t know about The Power of the Image II until 2 days prior to the opening, when he was told that some of his images were chosen to go into it. He names some of the other photographers in the exhibition and talks about the variety of subjects and the amazing images being shown. He also talks about the importance of looking at others’ work and using Instagram.

33:32 to 1:04:14 mins–Rohan Shearn is Managing Editor of Australian Arts Review and Convenor of Australian Pride Network.  Jimmy Twin  is the curator of the Queer Art Prize Australia (QAPA) which both guests are here to discuss. The Art Prize will be held at Chapel Off Chapel during the 2017 Midsumma Festival as part of their 30th anniversary celebrations.  AND the proceeds from an offshoot of the prize will go to Switchboard. Outgoing General Manager of 7 years Leanne Renfree joins us later, by phone, to express her delight about this and also to explain Switchboard’s role and the changes it has had recently. Jimmy and Rohan talk about their arts backgrounds and then Jimmy explains the QAPA prize–it is a $5000 prize for the best artwork as judged by a panel of esteemed judges.  Entrants must be from the LGBTIQ community or people producing work to do with this community. The 60 entrees from all over Australia have been shortlisted to 24 which will be shown at Chapel Off Chapel from 13 January to 5 February with the event hosted by Dolly Diamond. A lot of these works will also be toured around Australia.

1:04:33 to 1:20:12 mins–Performers Claire Nichols and Lizzie Brennan and are here to discuss their production of Australian Shakespeare Company’s Twelfth Night on at the Royal Botanic Gardens  from 20 December2016 to 04 March 2017. Lizzie always wanted to be a performer and entertain people and did this on many occasions when growing up. When a child she saw the movie Much Ado About Nothing and it hit her on an emotional level. She has done many Shakespeare performances since then from traditional ones to devised pieces.   Claire was influenced by her father who would recite Shakespeare at the drop of a hat.  She did community theatre and did a degree in arts/acting in Ballarat and then was apprenticed to a theatre company which did classics and Asian Theatre. Our guests’ production of Twelfth Night has got a classical undertone but has over-the-top costumes, extreme make-up, pop culture references and contemporary folk music.  Lizzie is the main character, Viola, but there are a lot of interweaving characters who bring comic elements and then darker moods. Viola is a fraternal twin who gets shipwrecked and is unprotected so dresses up as her brother which leads to many complications for her. Our guests talk about their experience of doing this play and other Shakespeare as well as the enjoyment audiences can expect in an outdoor production.

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