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News and Events

 

2010

"Dangerous Dreams"

Saturday 6th February until 27th March 2010

Hurstville City Museum and Gallery, 14 Macmahon St, Hurstville, Sydney

(Museum Phone 93306444)

This is a large retrospective showing of my major works spanning the past decade, with several works never exhibited previously.  The show features my paintings prominently in the main gallery of the regional museum and is complemented by ceramic art sculpture from local artists. All works are for sale at very reasonable prices. A full-colour 40-page catalogue is available.

 

The opening was a huge success with many sales. Thanks to curators Serena Manwaring and Jessica Allen and museum staff for helping to make this show a success. Thanks also to local mayor Philip Sansom for a great speech.

 

 

 

 

Photos from the Opening night of Dangerous Dreams (Sat 6th Feb, 2010). People, music, food, chatter and art.

 

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Press coverage of Dangerous Dreams 2010

 

 

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2009

"Sideshow!"

Monday 7th Dec 2009 to Saturday 30th January 2010

 

The Arthouse Hotel, 275 Pitt Street, Sydney

A nice selection of Sideshow paintings were on display and for sale in the Gallery bar at the Arthouse Hotel in Pitt Street Sydney (next to the Hilton hotel). This was a truly unique venue and I was invited back again next year for a show.

The mermaid and her double. Photo from Arthouse Hotel 2009.

 

"Worlds of Wonder"

at Hurstville Museum and Gallery March 2009

The exhibition went very well. Walls filled with pictures of glamorous women trapped within the sideshow or of men seeking a higher consciousness or falling to their doom. Thanks to all who attended on the opening day and throughout the 4 weeks. The different carnival inspired works came together nicely. Thanks to Serena Manwaring, curator of the museum, for her support .

Thoughts on the Exhibition by Artist Nick Stathopoulos
Hello and welcome to the Worlds of Wonder, an exhibition of surreal art by Beric Henderson. I’m Nick Stathopoulos, a fellow artist, and I’m delighted and honoured to be here opening the show.  What drew me to Beric’s work was his uncanny ability to take a mundane subject, and put a spin on it.  One of my favourites was a painting of a typical suburban family, their backs to us, edge lit by the phosphor glow of a television set in the corner of the room.  And the clincher for me was what they were all riveted to: Gort the robot, from the original The Day The Earth Stood Still. Beric is fascinated with characters from classic science fiction and film noir, and it’s a love that we both share. But his work always went beyond being a pastiche of Hollywood tropes and clichés.  The French have a word for it; inquietude -- a disquiet. Something unsettling, disturbing, troubling. All very Beric. This new work is set in a carnival. But this is no ordinary fun fair.  There is more than a hint of the whimsical Circus of Dr Lao, a mystery wrapped up in an enigma, a circus that reveals something of your inner soul. There are touches of Mr. Dark’s Carnival, where your deepest secret wishes are granted, but exacted at a terrible price. Indeed, something wicked this way comes. Beric’s carnival is a stark empty place…reserved exclusively for you, and your psyche. Colour is leached out giving the whole show the savour of a dream, a half-remembered memory.
Tents open to reveal alluring mysteries, strange haunting scenes: exotic women glance over their shoulders, or observe their tiny captives under glass.  Distant midgets entreat us closer and for what purpose? Merry-go-rounds turn, but you just know, they’re never ever going to stop. Spot-lit figures tumble un-tethered down the impossible heights of tents…to…where? And that’s something that Beric does best: his art coerces us to step falteringly onto the high-wire with images that at first seem familiar, then he snips the high-wire from beneath us.  How you choose to land is entirely up to you. Ladies and gentlemen, I give you Beric Henderson’s Worlds of Wonder. Enjoy the show.

Photos from 2009 March Opening at Hurstville City Museum, Sydney Australia

 

Artist statement about "Sideshow" project

I have always been fascinated by carnivals. This current series of surrealistic works explores the darker side of carnival life. The spiritual and otherworldly essence of carnival nocturnes has appeared in the mass media sporadically over past decades, and my initial exposure to this microcosm was courtesy of Ray Bradbury’s novel Something Wicked This Way Comes, mental images of which still haunt me after many years. Coupled with a fascination of all things Victorian, the old world Sideshow has now been distilled into a series of drawings and paintings that use an ever-changing carnival backdrop to depict images of isolation, uncertainty, experimentation and entrapment. These are recurring themes in my work, for reasons perhaps most humans can relate to.

     The world depicted in my drawings could be seen as a window into my own psyche, in that they derive from spontaneous mental images. The Victorian era feel to the work and the sense of simultaneous entrapment and release are integral elements in these compositions, where all parts are carefully balanced. I see the carnival as a metaphor for that tainted paradise most humans crave, a universe that tempts us by stimulating all our senses and yet one which is ready to swallow us whole. The sequence of temptation, experience, bewilderment and restraint can either provoke our release or incur our demise. In this world, the surface glitter clearly masks darker happenings behind closed doors. Perhaps not so different to urban existence after all.

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2006

Solo Exhibition, "Searching for Enlightenment" at Wallspace Gallery, 25-27 Brisbane St., Surry Hills in Sydney. This was Beric's third solo exhibition and included a range of new surrealistic works.

September 9-30. Official opening 9th September at 3pm.

Group Exhibition, "Originals" at Wallspace Gallery, Surry Hills, Sydney Australia. Featuring the work of ten artists: Michael Burfield, Nikolaus Dorrer, Beric Henderson, Zig Jaworowski, Imogen Joy, Keith lane, Luis Martinez, Catherine O'Donnell, Leslie Rice and Li Wenmin.

May 26-June 17. Opening night May 25 from 6pm.

Photos from 2006 September Opening at Wallspace Gallery

 

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2005

Beric's second solo exhibition, "Pulp Surrealism and other Visions", was held at the St. George Regional Museum in Hurstville, Sydney from 1 Oct to 12 Nov 2005. The event was covered by the local press, with a brief report in a national art magazine.

 

Press Reports (2005)