Kaliman Gallery - Del Kathryn Barton

With Fleur home lying down (will you get better my sweet) I was off to Kaliman solo. What a huge crowd and the room was filled with the smugness of a sold out show.

Without a doubt Del Kathyrn Barton is an extraordinary painter. Her technique is amazing but am I the only one who gets freaked out by those huge anime eyes? ... and I really don't understand the almost direct Gilbert and George quotation, it just seemed a little bit self conscious ...

It is a must see show though, that seven metre long watercolour is amazing ...

27th November - 19th December
www.kalimangallery.com

Kaliman Gallery - Guan Wei

Gene Sherman of course was there to open the show and to launch the book. It's when you run into Gene that you realise how much you miss Sherman Galleries as a commercial space, great that it's still there but we do miss a monthly show.

We love Gene for her nutty sense of style ... she made it to a 365 Happy Days pic on JP's website for her fantastical art based frocks ... so much fun to watch her and Anna Waldron running around Kaliman like naughty schoolgirls... refreshing to see art folk just having fun ... and even better when you realise that the pissed off cab driver standing outside the gallery beside his car is just waiting, with meter ticking, for Gene to decide when she wanted to leave...

Guan Wei's stylised fragments elude to a history that is all at once damning, confusing and incomplete ... referencing ancient maps the cleaness of the work is almost offputting ... and such sweet sculptures.

Alas, while we have the whole opening speech on video we were a little dazed and confused and forgot to video anything else ... oh well! pics will have to suffice.

www.kalimangallery.com
25th September - 24th October