Art news

It's damn hard to keep culturally up-to-date when everything seems to cost so much these days - especially when there are more petrol saving dockets in your coin purse than actual coins. This is why, like any self respecting girl on a limited budget, you should take advantage of the free Moran Portrait Prize Exhibition. Located at the NSW State Library this weekend from 11-5 pm, the exhibition includes a diverse display of both up and coming and well established Australian artists. Get there quick ‘cos it finishes up this Sunday.

And yes, it's worth you forking out a couple of precious bucks for the train ticket.

It's designed for kids, but with artists like Mike Giant, Stefan Marx, Beci Orpin, Chris Hopkins, Josh Petherick and Will Sweeney gracing the pages you'll probably want one too. SHORT is the brain-child of Ed Davis who complied the 82 pages of ready to colour illustrations after he couldn’t find an inspiring gift for his two little girls. A3 posters of the works will be on offer for young budding artists out there to take to. Word has it that the some of them might even end up on display in selected shops.

Pens, crayons and puff paint welcome. Ribena on tap.

Via Alley, Black & Blue Gallery, TwoThousand, Yen and NowNow present the launch of art-come-colouring-book SHORT on Sunday May 4 from 3pm - 6pm at Black & Blue Gallery.

When Jack Radcliffe's daughter, Alison, was born he did what any new parent would do - take lots of photos. Radcliffe, however, is a photographer so rather than a collection of blurry holiday/birthday/first-day-of-school snaps his chronicles of his beautiful young Alison are clear, poignant and rich in both look and feeling. It's actually quite amazing to go through the photos from start to finish and watch the growth and various social metamorphoses of a young woman. Kinda puts my parent's shoebox to shame!

This adorable piece of motoring is the limited edition Smart Fortwo car - made all pretty by vibrant Barceleona-based artist, Catalina Estrada. Estrada has worked with Smart Cars on a couple of projects and this time round has decked out the tiny, 8-foot car in her signature florid style as part of the recent Milan Fashion Week.  This American-made car (which is about a third the size of a regular car and runs on a lot less petrol) is currently available here in only two styles. Lets hope they make Catalina's model the third soon!

CURVY is going strong & is currently up at the Schwipe gallery in Melbourne for the next 2 weeks. Images from the CURVY tour are starting to pop back into the YEN office - some of them are now up on the YEN site.  Have a look here for more.  The CURVY 5 book has now landed in Aus and is available via the YEN site here as well as through stores very-very soon. If you're in Melb though, head to Magnation now and be the first on your street to get one off the shelf.

Last Thursday night the CURVY 5 train pulled into Melbourne's Don't Come gallery for a night of hard arty-ing. The gallery was packed with a diverse but typically cool Melbourne crowd (who stayed cool thanks to the complimentary Singha beer, V and SKYY) and the feedback from artists and art fans alike was overwhelmingly positive. Many people walked away with a little piece of CURVY 5 whether it was the book or one of the original works that adorned the gallery walls. We at YEN hope everyone who purchased the book or came along to the one of the national launches was as entertained and inspired by CURVY 5 as we were - we look forward to doing it all again in '09!

This Wednesday, Surry Hills' Firstdraft Gallery presents "THISISCURATING1-40"; one of a series of independently curated exhibitions that aim to foster emerging and experimental curatorial practices and promote up-and-coming local and international artists. Chosen by acclaimed local curator, Joel Mu, the 14 artists involved (including Greedy Hen, Scandanavia's Hanne Rivrud & Monja Wiik and olfactic artist, Nadia Wagner) have each contributed three works which collectively range from video and photography to performance, sculpture and installation and collectively make for a varied and "unrestrained" showcase. THISISCURATING1-40 runs until May 10.