from one extreme to the other

so after all that DIY action last week, i'm going to make you all swivel 180º and talk about the total high brow, super gloss art publication Australian Art Collector.

This isn't meant to be a blatant plug for them, in fact, i don't get a nickel for giving them a shoutout, but after hanging out at my new favourite hidey hole (magnation in elizabeth st melbourne), i bought this quarter's issue and have been incredibly impressed with it!

i first bought art collector 'cos Shaun Gladwell was on the front cover and he's a bit of a spunk, plus i really like his work. lol! and from then on, i kind of got sucked in. What i thought was going to be pure art wank, has turned out to be some pure art critical/journalistic genius sometimes. well, genius may be a little over-the-top, but it's been really good lately.

this issue features hany armanious, nick mangan, claire healy and sean cordeiro, bill and ann gregory from annandale galleries, fred cress, neon parc, richard bell and the contemporary collector andrew cameron.

this isn't a feature list of artists who are fuddy-duddy-match-with-your-sofa types - they are all living, contemporary/cutting edge artists (you can't get more cutting edge than fred cress turning his back on abstraction to go figurative, while driving a bentley!) and the collectors/gallery owners featured aren't exactly your aristocracy of dealers/collectors either - the neon parc kids are a couple of slick, smart slackers, annandale galleries has been pushing the boundaries of usual gallery representation in sydney for years and the interview with andrew cameron highlighted the excitement of branching out to collect contemporary works - he owns works by daniel von sturmer and shaun gladwell.

other features include an interview with alain de botton about aesthetics and architecture with regards to buying art, a short article on collectives like DAMP, NUCA and Slave as well as the upshot of the Melbourne Art Fair and art fairs in general.

ever since i've started buying the magazine regularly, these are the kinds of articles that have been appearing inside! i've been shocked!

the ads are still full of the same old same old guard of galleries and collector's artists that i associate with trad art collectors, but as an emerging artist, it's nice to see that at least the editorial is becoming a little more progressive and as a reader, actually interesting to read! i know that this magazine has the power to completely swing an art market, so seeing them profiling some fantastic contemporary artists restores a smattering of faith in the whole game.