Concrete Playground

A number of Sydney art spaces have been inserting an exhibition of works by emerging artists into their programming of late. It's good. Got to keep the blood fresh. Stills Gallery is getting doubly fresh, kicking off a fresh new year with a group show of four fresh photo-media artists whose work considers 'the enigmatic auras of photographs and objects'.

Max Creasy constructs still-life images by casting objects in plaster, hand painting and then photographing them. Emidio Puglielli's works display both sides of the photograph at once and become objects in themselves. Naomi White highlights the de-motivating atmosphere of workplaces in both subversive and frank ways, and Roberta Thornley's works on the anxiety surrounding the search for perfection and happiness are described as painterly and cinematic.

Image: Constructed Form (glass), 2009, Max Creasy