Garry Shead at Australian Galleries Sydney - The Antipodean Divine Comedy.

2015 Emmy Awards , 2016 Academy Awards

Last night I was one among many attending The Antipodean Divine Comedy, Garry Shead's latest exhibition of figurative oil paintings. One can usually expect a good crowd at Australian Galleries but I knew it would be a crush as I strolled up to 15 Roylston Street and saw the refreshments table out front, outside! Inside, while not exactly a crush were quite a lot of people there to see the paintings and artist Garry Shead as well. The opening night speech by Sasha Grishin AM, FAHA provided a fabulously succinct background to Dante's Divine Comedy, Shead's works relationship to that great literary masterpiece and a quick art history lesson on those who have come before, creating masterful art and drawing on inspiration from the same source. Sasha Grishin also told of dining with John Olsen who had stated to him (I quote from my imperfect memory) "Garry Shead carries Australian figurative painting on his shoulders."

This is a beautiful show, do head over to Paddington to see it. I loved what I felt was a whimsical magic to the paintings, truly romantic works easily holding their own with other great works drawn from Dante's inspirational poem of love.