Foils and Issues of Freedom

Sophie Balchin and Richard Stucley-Boden

Colville Street Gallery, Battery Point
Price Range $160 to $4,000
Gallery Watch Joerg Andersch
The Mercury, 3 February, 2007

If you revel in contrasts, this exhibition of paintings by Sophie Balchin and Richard Stucley-Boden is for you.

Most Tasmanian regulars at art galleries will be familiar with the work of Stucley-Boden, his rich and colour-saturated paintings of interiors and floral arrangements defying classification when considering styles and their epochs. While some viewers may deem him a classic 19 th -century painters, others see in him the embodiment of postmodernism.

With an exhibition record dating to 1966, he has been involved with theatre design, taught within the education system and conducted art classes with Adult Education. A portrait painter of some note, his work is represented in collections in Australia and overseas.

Sophie Balchin is new to the local art scene. Her only previous appearance was at this gallery last year in a mixed show.

A graduate of the Sydney College of Fine Arts (‘93), she has exhibited mostly in New South Wales and Western Australia and traveled extensively on research trips overseas.

Unlike Stucley-Boden's style, hers is more “modernist”. Since art is a little like haute coulture, art styles too seem to work in recurring cycles and at present there's an urge to re-examine the 1960s art scene.

Balchin's paintings seem an amalgam of styles labeled constructivism and abstract expressionism. It may sound a little confusing but let me just say the artist has imbued the work with a lovely touch of CTSCTSlyricism that, through the palette and structure, makes her work flow despite some angular features.

When I said this exhibition is one of great contrast, you may now get the idea. It's a superb show, featuring two quite exciting and dissimilar artists, and a fascinating start to the new season.

Andersch, Joerg The China Connection The Mercury 15 July, 2006 p.10

The China Connection
Still Lifes and Foreign Shores
Colville Street Gallery,
Battery Point
Price range $1900 to $5600

Question: What has Korobeit Beach in Ghana to do with a Chinese museum in Weldborough? Answer: Richard Stucley-Boden. Well, let us stick with the beach scenes so beautifully rendered by Stucley-Boden, just one of the many paintings this exciting artist has to offer.

Tasmania is home to Stucley-Boden and he has long established himself on the art scene here, but most of his exhibitions have been in Sydney and overseas.

Now and then he appears in Hobart , and the exhibition at the Colville Street Gallery is up to his usual standard: excellent.

Stucley-Boden recently spent time in Ghana and he returned with fabulous material. But just in case you are looking for homegrown subjects, don't fret – they're there.

As to the Weldborough connection: yes, it's true, Boden has bought the old schoolhouse opposite the pub, and it's going to be a Chinese museum. Stucley-Boden's roots go back to the beginnings of Gould's Country, an area of pioneering properties between Weldborough and St Helens .

Boden's great grandfather Alexander Johnson owned a large property there, and with it came the association with Chinese tin miners, many of them employed by Johnson. Many artifacts have been left with Stucley-Boden.

The move to establish this museum at Weldborough should be a welcome addition to an otherwise almost forgotten community.

For visitors to Weldborough, the Chinese cemetery a couple of kilometers to the west of the town makes an interesting stop. The area is rich in history, and to ensure a ready welcome in heaven, light a little letter and put it in the Chinese funeral oven, which is there to send wishes to the heavens.