DO NOT PANDA

Hurry come along to Penrith Regional Gallery prior to the 12 June and see Farr & Little: Do Not Panda. This is a very special exhibition that witnessed artists Mark Little and Cath Farr make work in Penrith about Penrith. Travelling from The United Kingdom the artists bought fresh eyes to the assignment.

Acting Gallery Director Victoria Harbutt states this show provides an opportunity to see art that will make you smile. Cath Farr armed with her camera explored the city of Penrith capturing remarkable shop fronts, wildlife, nature and a series of abandoned shopping trolleys. The photographs are powerful, candid and quirky, but it is the ‘cultural vandalism’ or graffiti which Mark Little scrawles over them that genuinely makes this a standout exhibition. For example: Farr captures a suburban Take Away Chicken shop and Little has humorously drawn on (in charcoal) the charcoal chickens. Certain photographs remain unmarked as Farr has managed to capture a poetic commentary that stands alone.

Collaboration is common practice amongst musicians and performance artists but it is rare within the visual arts community. In this partnership the artists work together, both contributing to the one image. What we see is Farr documenting the environment around her and Little providing the commentary – often humourous!

Beyond the photographs on display the artists have scavenged and foraged in the local area and created a installation with both natural and man made objects. Visitors will observe a hanging wooden sculpture which could be viewed as paying homage to the areas rural past. Also at play is a reflection of the old and new through the use of digital photography and charcoal drawing one of the oldest art forms.

Do Not Panda is displayed in Anchor House a modernist building constructed in 1962 for Margo Lewers’ mother Gilly Plate to reside in. The building was collaboration between client (Margo) and architect (Sydney Ancher). Visitors can still appreciate the Margo Lewers cork wall which is a dramatic mural of dyed cork in a merging of varied squares of tonal greens. Presently Anchor House is used as an exhibition space and Do Not Panda manages to ruminant on its domestic past… in an unpretentious way.