In Wendy Sharpe: Many liveswe find that Wendy Shape’s art has touched many people’s lives around the world. Sharpe believes that there is a possibility of a spirit world parallel to our own and she brings that forward in her art.
Wendy Sharpe’s exhibition Spellbound is showing at the Art Gallery of New South Wales until Sunday 11 August 2024. We asked work experience student Isobel to flick through the pages of Wendy Sharpe and pick some of her favourite images to share with readers who can’t get to the show. Read on below to see what she chose to spotlight.
Journalist Elizabeth Fortescue writes about Sharpe’s journey from girlhood to her current position as one of Australia’s most celebrated artists. John McDonald, an art critic, talks about how Sharpe’s travels around the world have motivated her art style. Senior curator Justin Paton highlights Sharpe’s fixation on light and dark, metaphorically and physically. Drawing specialist Anne Ryan discusses the role of drawing in Sharpe’s overall practice. Writer Scott Bevan remembers travelling with Sharpe when she was an Australian war artist. Journalist and author Stephanie Wood observes Sharpe’s practical humanitarianism.
This book holds more than 200 images of Sharpe, her work and her studio.
I like this painting because of the contrasting colours.
This painting has smaller bits of artwork that make up the larger piece.
This painting has lots of different colours and things to look at.
As a title for this sumptuous new book, Wendy Sharpe: Many lives felt just right. Wendy Sharpe (b. 1960) leads many lives: those of artist, collaborator with writers and performers, and prodigious traveller with homes in Sydney and Paris. Sharpe has touched many lives, from the East Timorese at a time of war, to refugee women or those who’ve been in jail. The title also resonates with Sharpe’s family tree, which includes a number of Ukrainian psychics.
Although an atheist, Sharpe is fascinated by the possibility of a parallel spirit world. The idea that we might all have many lives, rises to the surface on the artist’s canvases.
In this book, journalist Elizabeth Fortescue tells Sharpe’s story from her beginnings as a shy child on Sydney’s northern beaches to her current position as one of Australia’s most celebrated artists. Art critic John McDonald discusses how Sharpe’s international travels have inspired her art. Senior curator Justin Paton focuses on Sharpe’s fascination with light and dark, both metaphorical and actual. Drawing specialist Anne Ryan teases out the role of drawing in Sharpe’s overall practice. Journalist and writer Scott Bevan vividly recalls travelling with Sharpe when she was an Australian official war artist. And journalist and author Stephanie Wood brings an observant eye to Sharpe’s practical humanitarianism.
