Last night, Iolanthe from Ruby Assembly attended an intimate opening of John Beard‘s new exhibition and beautiful retrospective book. Kindly invited by John Buckley Gallery‘s art consultant Vicki Finkelstein, it was wonderful to hear ex-Gallery of NSW Director Edmund Capon affectionately talk about his colleague, artist John Beard.

The works by unassuming artist John Beard were powerfully quiet. Looming out of the soft, felty darkness of the images were reliefs of popular icons of philosophy, cinematography and paintings of the great masters – remastered. It was great to see the attendees at the gallery gathering around images to guess the darkly hidden subject within. Guess who above?

 Art Consultant Vicki Finkelstein with the beautiful new John Beard book – an art and design piece in its own right.

John Buckley opens the exhibition in front of the meisterstuck – Beard’s take on Las Meninas called ‘After Las Meninas’.

 Las Meninas by Velasquez.

Edmund Capon (top image) and John Beard.

I really liked what John had to say about silence in daily experience, artistic or otherwise. With everything becoming so immediate (social media and blogs a part of that process, undoubtedly), it is a rare moment to have blessed silence. It’s true that the best work – the work that forces you to interact and decode – is that with large comfortable gaps of noiselessness.

To view the exhibition or purchase works, email gallery@johnbuckley.com.au.