Because art is good for you

Dear reader,

Are you there, or am I talking to myself? If you are, is your 'there' Melbourne? If so, get yourself to Lamington Drive gallery, pronto. Opened last Thursday, their current exhibition, Risographica! features over thirty bright and beautful two-colour risographic prints. The artists all come from the stable of the Jacky Winter Group, a Melbourne-based agency set up to represent and promote Australian illustration. As JW states it on their website, their aim is to "...connect a diverse range of Australia's finest contemporary illustrators with a broad international and local client base." With prints running to an edition of only ten, and selling for the super cheap price of $50, to say the show is sure to sell out is the understatement of the month. I particularly like that Lamington Drive is making art assessible to a wider audience rather than just trying to profit of high end pieces. It is art, done democratically, with many a good vibe to boot -- part of the proceeds from the sales of the prints go to Medecins Sans Frontiers. As if I needed any further encouragement to buy one! The difficulties on the night were a) navigating the clinging Mebourne humidity through the heaving opening night crowd, and b) trying to whittle down the "I-want" list. I managed to finally get it down to one (though I was sorely tempted by Matt Huynh's Matador): Stolon by Dylan Martorell, as seen above. Technically, it's my first ever real-art purchase, and all I can say is its making me wicked excited for the collecting journey ahead.

My shortlist can be seen below:

1. Matt Huynh, Matador

2. Beco Orpin, Follows Night

3. Clements Habicht, Hens

4. Rik Lee, Whoop Arse

All images from Lamington Drive's Risographica! catalogue, which is available for download here.