Two artists, two stories

Conor Timothy O’Shea and Anthony Jigalin painted and installed a body of work at Jugglers Art Space for the 2013 year opening on February 1. How different both men and their art are but the juxtaposition of these works in the Ground and 1st level spaces, and the viewing crowd on the opening night, had some energising dynamism. Conor’s first solo body of work [in the main downstairs space and the side tunnel] of large oils and aerosol on canvas, video and sound installation and text on aluminium are the work of a professional, accomplished, disciplined and talented multi-modal artist. As a BFA final year student at QUT, the embedded stories that emerge from taking time with these works began to formulate into deeper understandings for me as I took time with the artist and his artist statement. The two dimensional painted works as contemporary paintings need to be seen by collectors and curators as making a significant aesthetic statement and as laying the ground work for a successful future as a practitioner. What was missing from the show was an example of his larger sculptural works, like the stunning piece he installed at the Judith Wright Centre for Contemporary Arts in 2012 as part of the BARI Festival. See www.conoroshea.com

Anthony Jigalin’s prolific output of pencil, biro, guache on A4 paper installed on the ceiling of the Level 1 upstairs space had a sense of transience as much as Conor’s had a sense of groundedness and permanence. Anthony’s subjects from trains, to draculas, to fast cars and nudes were tacked to the ceiling with dressmaking pins. The installation took about 6 hours and this fragile “hanging garden of line and colour” changed the sense of space in the gallery and had viewers on the carpet for some relaxed viewing. The vibrancy and quick draw aspect of this show belies the passion Anthony has for his art and this contribution to visual story telling at Jugglers has made its mark on us. Keep going Anthony! Peter Breen,Director, Jugglers Art Space Inc.