Six Great Art Exhibitions Springing Up in October

Eminent Australian rock photographer Tony Mott has had a pretty sweet time on the road with some of the world’s most respected musicians. If you fancy a glimpse into his impressive portfolio, the State Library of NSW will be showcasing a selection of his work in What a Life!. You will see awe-inspiring shots of Iggy Pop bounding off speakers as well as Mick Jagger caught mid-swagger. As well as capturing the raw power of rock ‘n’ roll, Mott has documented the changing nature of live music in Australia, from the advent of digital photography to the loss of countless entertainment venues.

This show is curated by Bev Shroot and Louise Thoeming, winners of the Dominik Mersch Gallery Curator Award, an inaugural prize developed to support emerging curators. In bringing their winning concept to life, Shroot and Thoeming will be presenting Outsiders, Imposters and Aliens, which will explore the idea of ‘otherness.’ The exhibition features seven artists whose work examines marginalised individuals and groups living in the shadow of the mainstream. Each artist will explore a different facet of alienation and detachment, dwelling on the difficult-to-draw line between insider and outsider.

Multidisciplinary artist Sarah Contos has been creeping up Sydney’s art scene for some time now. She will be putting on her first solo exhibition at Roslyn Oxley9 Gallery this month. Total Control will showcase a collection of captivating works utilising a broad range of materials, such as found objects and collected fabrics. There is both fierceness and sensuality to Contos’s work. She combines modernism, eroticism and popular culture to produce new mythologies and alternative histories. This new body of work looks set to be another rich mix of clashing textures and identities.

It has been four years since Alaska first made a splash in Sydney’s art scene. From humble beginnings, the lonely janitor’s office in Kings Cross car park has transformed into one of the city’s most adventurous galleries, facilitating a diverse range of multidisciplinary art practices. That’s why this month’s group show, filled with Alaska all-stars, will double as birthday celebration. It will feature Biljana Jancic, Daniel Mudie Cunningham, Elliott Bryce Foulkes, Kate Scardifield, Marian Tubbs, Nell, Phil James, Samuel Hodge and Tara Marynowsky.

This is a biggie. Casula Powerhouse will be celebrating 21 years with an all-star group show and a killer birthday bash to boot. Harking back to 1994, their year of birth, the festivities held on Saturday, October 17, will be a combination of ‘90s dance party, bush doof and television variety show. The night will feature special events such as Stephen Mushin’s popular Colourpult, which will fire ‘colour bombs’ into the walls of the museum as a non-polluting reimagining of its former life as a Coal Power Station. There will also be children’s workshops, roaming karaoke sessions and an ‘edible dessert landscape’, whatever that means.

Jonathan Jones is passionate about illuminating Indigenous histories and knowledge systems embedded within the Australian landscape. The artist has been commissioned to create a new project as part of Liveworks, an upcoming festival celebrating experimental art practices. At the heart of Jones’ practice is an attempt to connect and collaborate with local cultures and communities in meaningful ways. Installed at Carriageworks, Guguma Gurin | Black Stump will be an exercise in decolonisation. The artist will be undertaking reclamation of country, repurposing materials marked by white settlement and reviving the Wiradjuri language. The project will explore the cultural inscriptions on the land, unearthing both beauty and violence.