Jin Hien Lau is a pretty cool guy.  He illustrates Happenstance’s Versus and doesn’t afraid of anything.  One of the most interesting illustrator/animators in Australia at the moment, his first solo exhibition opens 6pm to 8pm this Thursday April 1 at Books Kinokuniya.  You’d be a fool not to check it out.

The Uncanny Visa runs from Thursday 1 April to Thursday 14 April at Books Kinokuniya.

Kinokuniya Gallery
Books Kinokuniya
Level 2, The Galeries Victoria
500 George St, Sydney

The month of May kinda seems a long way off, but that’s not stopping us getting excited about the launch of the gorgeous (and nicely typography-heavy!) 17th Biennale of Sydney website.

Get in on the ground up: hurry and apply for the last of the volunteer positions, or register online for the first week festivities by 28 February.

This time, the Biennale is based on the curatorial theme “THE BEAUTY OF DISTANCE: Songs of Survival in a Precarious Age”, and will once again take over Sydney’s public spaces with a showcase of new and recent works from local and international artists.

Internationally-acclaimed artistic director David Elliot curated the biennale specifically for Sydney as an iconic modern world city, and to explore the nexus between visual and other art forms.  Presenting highlights on the website, Elliot says: “I’m very excited to be presenting the 17th Biennale of Sydney. The aim of this Biennale is to bring together work from diverse cultures, at the same time, on the equal playing field of contemporary art, where no culture can assume superiority over any other.”

And that sounds pretty damn alright to us!

The Bieannale of Sydney runs from 12 May until 1 August 2010 across a number of venues and in a number of different forms.  Check out the website for more details.

Looking for Gaffa Gallery? Don’t worry they weren’t a casualty of the whole financial crisis…

You may remember Gaffa as a quaint little artist run gallery tucked away in the streets near Central Station. Well with their Inaugural Relaunch Exhibition taking place this Thursday night, you’ll see just how busy they’ve been over the last few months to come back bigger and better than ever. Expanding into a multi-level gallery with 3 separate floors as well as a cafe and shop thrown into the mix, this is going to be one of Sydney’s finest new art spaces.

Gaffa Gallery still remains as dedicated as ever to nuturing cross-platform collaboration, collectivity and cohesion within the contemporary arts community. Pop on down this Thursday night to check out the future of arts in Sydney.

Inaugural Relaunch Exhibition
11 February – 23 March 2010
281 Clarence Street, Sydney CBD, NSW 2000
artists // Ella Barclay, Vernon Bowden, Zoe Brand, Benjamin Backhouse, Kath Fries, Mark Gerada, Andrew Lavery, Sean O’Connell, Marcelle Robbins, Sumugan Sivanesan, Mike Turner, Geoffrey Farquhar-Stil, Rohan Wilson, Melinda Young

Whether it be your iPhone calendar, your moleskine diary, or if you prefer the good ol’ fashioned writing on your hand, mark it down: This Wednesday night our friends at MAgallery connect four emerging artists from Sydney and Melbourne at the exhibition opening of BLUE MOONS. Featuring the works of Leon Hawker, William-Guillaume Saussay and Persistently Plastic (Phil Soliman and A. West). MA’s doors will be open from 7pm.

A. WEST // ARTIST STATEMENT:

My art is a creature. I love it, yet I abuse it and I am cruel.

My art is always a rebellion. Although morbid and cynical, I occasionally rejoice in a tiny scrap of carnal empathy.

I bathe myself in contrast and paradox.

Oil and blood splatters mirror the way we cover the natural with the manufactured. We use oil to destroy environments, societies, cultures and even our own skin.

I encourage viewers to touch the works.

PHIL SOLIMAN // ARTIST STATEMENT:

The works in this show reflect my interest in how photographs of humans are looked at and interpreted.

Millions of photographs of people are taken every day, and distributed all over the world. On social networking sites, on thumb drives, in pornographic magazines, in newspapers, on billboards. They evoke the whole spectrum of emotions, from love, desire and nostalgia, to hate, anger and intense adulation.

Photography is also a scientific tool, capturing images for research, engineering and other uses. Our understanding of ourselves and the Universe has been advanced immeasurably by photographs of horses in motion, milk droplets, distant galaxies, the surface of the earth, and the interior and exterior workings of human beings.

Our skin is such a wonderfully useful organ, incredibly complex and durable, yet we only think of it in terms of its appearance. Its colour, for most of us, is of utmost importance, appealing to our deepest political and aesthetic ideas. Nevertheless, it is almost impossible to look at the surface of a human without thinking about the physical and emotional activity happening underneath. I wanted to examine this idea by capturing the surface of a man in a highly objective, scientific way, while imbuing the work with a sense of subjective beauty and sensuality.

BLUE MOONS opens THIS Wednesday, February 10 from 7pm – 9pm, MAgallery Sydney: 27 Dick St, Chippendale. (Also viewable from today through to Feb 15 by appointment only)

We can’t seem to escape James Patradoon lately. He’s moved out of his bedroom and taken residency in our studio (some of you may remember his Bedroom Safari article from our first issue). When he’s not drinking all our beer and making fashion statements with his Saucony sneakers he’s been knuckling down to get work together for his new show, Yours The Demon. Head on down to Kinokuniya on the 7th of January to check out all new works by James.

YOURS THE DEMON is an exhibition of experimental work by screenprinter/illustrator James Jirat Patradoon. A departure from his usual hypercoloured palette and superhero subject matter, this series of large scale black and white drawings take inspiration from the gothic sublime of secret societies and the occult.

James’ intense comic book noir-style images have appeared in magazines such as Nylon, Complex, Acclaim, and Empty. As well as in collaborations with Adidas, Diesel, MTV, Pepsi, Mambo and The Deftones. See more of James’ work at www.jiratpatradoon.com.

Opening Night Thursday 7th of January
Running till 19th of January

Kinokuniya Gallery
Books Kinokuniya
Level 2, The Galleries Victoria
500 George St, Sydney

Opening night drinks provided by Cascade Green.

Nothing signals the start of summer more than a bustling market on a balmy night.  And what’s a better way to ring in the glorious weather and celebrate the extended hours of daylight than by supporting local creatives, bagging a bargain, and seeing some neat artwork?  Nothing, that’s what!

Happenstance magazine is proud & excited about joining forces with the Finders Keepers to present some of Sydney’s most exciting emerging artists in a fun, market-style atmosphere. We call it the Art Mill.

The Finders Keepers is an independent art & design initiative supporting new & emerging creatives (just like Happenstance!), and their second annual markets hit Sydney this Friday 2 December.  With items on sale ranging from fashion & accessories, books & zines, textiles & homewares to arts & crafts (amongst a whole host more), it’ll be a great opportunity to bag a one-off find while supporting talented creative folk from your own ‘hood.

Pop by the two gallery areas of the Art Mill and say hello to us, while ogling some great artwork from artists like Ben Ali Ong, Lang Leav, Matt Huynh, Rebecca Murphy, Renee Anne and a whole heap more.  (See the full list of lovely featured artists here!)

The Finders Keepers Sydney markets open Friday 2 December from 6pm to 8pm, and will run from 10am to 8pm on Saturday 3 December at The Carriageworks, 245 Wilson Street, Eveleigh.  Click here for more details and a nifty map, & come along with your friends!

hap·pen·stance

(hāp’ən-stāns’)
n. A chance circumstance.

Thanks to everyone who came down to Good God Small Club to celebrate the launch of issue 2!

We had a ball (and hope you did, too!) with awesome music from Dora Maar, Sounds and Pee Wee. And who could forget the hip hop and R&B classics dropped by our covergirl DJ Shancks? We actually had to clear the dancefloor to close up!

Special thanks go to to Grolsch for keeping us refreshed, and to our hardworking street team for helping the night run smoothly.

Hope to see you all the next one!

photography // David Maurice Smith

Opening this week at Saatchi & Saatchi is Hip Pop, a group exhibition from the good folks at United Galleries. Now in its third year, Hip Pop features artwork that explores one of two themes: “the ongoing legacy of the ‘pop’ art movement and its continuing influence on contemporary art, and the nature of ‘hip’ cutting edge artistic practices which continually push not just the boundaries, but also our perception of what constitutes art…”

Hip Pop features a really strong contingent of work, and blends a variety of media to create a really interesting cohesive collection with nice points of difference.

Here at Happenstance, we were lucky enough to talk to some of the featured artists. Ben Ali Ong, Lee Grant, Patricia Mado and Ben Rak were kind enough to take time out to talk us through the ins and outs of the trade.

BEN ALI ONG // PHOTO MEDIA
“Although my own work doesn’t fall under the label of pop art, I do enjoy it and have always looked at that kind of work for inspiration… [My] work revolves around themes of mortality and consciousness… I think it’s important to follow your instincts and do what you love, from there you’ll find your own voice…”

CLICK HERE TO READ THE FULL INTERVIEW & SEE MORE.

PATRICIA MADO // PRINTMAKING

“This is what I try to show with my works: the ‘accidental beauty’ that we are constantly surrounded by and exposed to in our everyday lives… The actual technique of carving is something that has taken me many years to develop; every printmaker has his or her own signature in the lines they choose and don’t choose, it’s like a fingerprint really… I like the process, dedication and to determine what it is going to be from start to finish.”

CLICK HERE TO READ THE FULL INTERVIEW & SEE MORE.

BEN RAK // PRINTMAKING

“[Pop art] breaks down the barriers between high and low brow culture… My aim is to raise questions about the relationship between conformity and distinction. All the images in the series portray members of subcultures that have been marketed to the masses… Screenprinting seemed to be the ideal medium for combining printmaking and my previous photographic experiences.”

CLICK HERE TO READ THE FULL INTERVIEW & SEE MORE.

LEE GRANT // PHOTOGRAPHER

“We’re a much more visually literate generation than even our parents were and you only have to open your eyes to see how image saturated we’ve become as a culture… The uncanny – and perhaps slightly freaky – thing about brothers and sisters are the codified behaviours, the funny habits and the more obvious physical likenesses… Generally I’ll know that I want to photograph someone when I see them – it’s a funny thing really…. a little like falling in love, a moment of recognition I suppose.”

CLICK HERE TO READ THE FULL INTERVIEW & SEE MORE.

Hip Pop opens this Thursday 12 November at Saatchi & Saatchi, 70 George Street, The Rocks, and runs Monday to Friday, 9am – 6pm, until 27 November.  As well as the artists featured here, it will also showcase more work from Kareena Zerefos, Stephen Dupont, David Disher, William Holt and Jane Fontane.