Spirit Show by People
This weekend, I had the honour of being able to attend an art exhibition put on by Andrew Costi – the third one that I’ve been able to get to – I think I’m beginning to be a bit of a regular!
Andrew invited me to make some commentary on some of his paintings, which I intend to do, but first I wanted to note what stuck out to me, even before I walked in the door.
When I looked at the pamphlet for this show, it was entitled ‘Spirit: An Art Show By People’. Obviously, slightly odd – it’s not like there are many art shows that aren’t put on by people!
But, I would hold that there is a bigger point being made here.
The key point of this is not that this is an art show put on by people, as opposed to the other art shows that are not. The point is that on focusing on Spirit, those putting the art show on have become, in a deeper sense, people.
We look at animals, and note that there is really nothing deeper going on there. There are relationships between animals, sure, and humans are able to develop a connection with animals, but most would remain unconvinced in the face of any argument that animals have metacognition or were, in any way, thinking about anything beyond the here and now.
This is what separates humans.
Our ability to evaluate, our ability to consider, our ability to think beyond ourselves…this is what makes us realise our own humanity.
These are people who, not only seeing their own humanity, are actually accessing that element, that ineffable aspect of their own humanity that makes them grow as people.
As far as the art show itself goes, I found it extraordinary. Andrew Costi’s paintings, generally of a more abstract nature, mixed very well with Hubert Rietburg’s, which were mostly of tangible objects (e.g. flowers, the Sydney Harbour Bridge). The evident discovery of the show was Beth Keane, who achieved the extraordinary accomplishment of selling a painting while setting up her display! Her art, focusing on concepts (particularly to do with parent-child relationships), is worth seeing.
Along with the painters was the photography component, with Blakrok Design‘s Dimitri Tsakas and his different take on historic European and Asian landmarks, Trent Everitt‘s trees in London, and Clive Morley’s photos that attempted to capture a representation of aura.
In all, another thought-provoking Art Show, showing anyone that visual art truly is a medium that both embodies creativity, and allows other creative types to come together with the perfect atmosphere.
“Spirit: An Art Show by People”, presented by Andrew Costi, is on at the Circle Gallery, 273 Montague Rd, West End until 7 June, from 9-5pm.
