The internet, and Instagram in particular, has radically reshaped the way the art world operates. Just as collectors will often purchase works they’ve only seen on Instagram, artists such as Rhys Lee are swapping artworks with artists they’ve never met, and who live halfway round the globe. “Sometimes they arrive in one piece and sometimes they don’t,” Lee jokes. The principle extends to a new group exhibition Lee has curated, Shots Off the Dices, opening at Nicholas Thompson Gallery on Saturday. “The Australians in it are my friends … and the internationals are new friends that I’ve met on Instagram,” he says. There is no overarching theme; instead Lee says he’s attracted to “no-bullshit” work whether it’s “hard-edged and linear” or more expressive and figurative. “The artists are real painters’ painters, though there is also some ceramic stuff in the show.” William Mackinnon’s Studio (i) is pictured.
Read more: http://www.smh.com.au/entertainment/art-and-design/curator-rhys-lees-latest-exhibition-opens-at-nicholas-thompson-gallery-20150616-ghowb9.html#ixzz3dIfoAdqD
