Footnotes

PROVENANCE
Sherman Galleries, Sydney
The Gene & Brian Sherman Collection, Sydney

Bill Wright and I met with John Young in his studio during Sherman
Galleries early days. We talked aesthetics and art theory – relatively
new fields of inquiry for me in those days. I knew John respected and
endorsed Imants Tillers' Book of Power meta project. Imants had
already joined the Gallery and I was starting to get a glimpse of the
focus and range of conceptual art practices.
John joined our thoughtfully curated Sherman Galleries group soon
thereafter, and with his Double Ground works – juxtaposing painted
panels and photographic images – he created a series of quite
exceptional shows between 1994 and 2006.
Our exhibition installations were often quite complex and specific
to each body of work. I remember our team working hard to create
curved walls as per John's vision for a particular body of work.
We painted and repainted surfaces, moved and constructed room
dividers, intelligently adapting architect Andrew Andersons' beautifully
conceived 350 square metre space into areas and atmospheres that
offered our artists the best possible mise en scène for their work.
Regular trips to Melbourne, Brisbane, Adelaide and Launceston to
visit our nationwide represented artists plus bi- or tri-annual Asia-wide studio visits, were part of my multifaceted gallerist duties. John
and his beautiful wife Kate Mizrachi often welcomed me into their
Melbourne home for dinner. I visited John's bustling studio where at
the time several assistants were working under his artistic direction
preparing canvases, sourcing internet images and overall assisting him
in bringing his grand vision to fruition.
The works on offer in this grouping sit firmly within John's important
Double Ground oeuvre. Landscape and figure dominate with the
technology of the camera sitting alongside the traditional medium of
paint. Conceptually the work underpins the flow of time. Aesthetically
the work speaks to the beauty and importance of image making and
to the link between the artist's hand, mechanical means of production
and the viewer's gaze.
Dr Gene Sherman