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Title: John Stringer - Please leave your comments and memories HERE
John, Always supportive, always positive, always fun, always missed
I first met John in about 1988 when he had just taken up his post as Curator at AGWA. There was a lot of dissatisfaction amongst artists at this time (myself included). Somehow I found myself talking to him and I criticised his focus on South American art at the expense of the local scene. I was still a bit green from art school and had no idea that this was not the normal way to talk to one of the most influential guys in Australian art. Our discussion was interrupted as he had to give a speech, so I assumed that our conversation was truly over. Surprisingly, immediately following the speech, he made a bee-line towards me in the crowd and began to explain with great charm and conviction the nature of his interests and work. He even acknowledged weaknesses in what he was doing. I struck by his honesty and found myself liking him and even agreeing with him.
Through working with John at ACE I learnt some things that I didn’t learn in 5 years of art school. He made Minimalist art sound simple and appealing, describing its nature as essentially the object in front of you. He was very intuitive in his response to art and this worked for him on both a conceptual as well as an aesthetic level. Thanks to him I can now step in front of a bank of minimalist paintings I have never seen before and start to think about what I am seeing and even discuss them.
Another thing I liked about John was his continued interest in past movements and artists, even if they were no longer fashionable. It was an unusual approach that combined with his incredible knowledge and gave him a big advantage over the rest of the fashion oriented art world.
Not long before he died I found myself noting to him R.B. Kitaj’s recent death, immediately realising it was a mistake to mention him. In true John fashion, he completely dismissed his work as academic. John had the unusual ability to assess and grade almost anything, whether it was a painting, a song or a salad. He was a dream to set up work for, because once he had made up his mind he stayed with his decision.
There was no one else like him and I will greatly miss his energy and enthusiasm, and even more so the honesty, generosity and warmth of his nature.
Kevin Robertson
Ah John! I am still in shock. We last spoke at the bureau of ideas night just a few weeks ago, I thanked you for your continuous support for my work and for so many artists. A truly generous spirit - a good man. I will miss you this festival time, miss not seeing you at the theatre, at friends parties, at openings.. i still can’t believe you are not around but i should say is that you are and will be around, when i am next at the theatre i will look for you and see you at my next opening , a tear and that feeling of deep sadness grabs at my chest .. love always Chrissie xx
Life will not be the same without John
Hope to see you in the next Life John 
John: “Let’s G.T.F out of here”
And he did.
It’s of some comfort to me that on Tuesday morning I was in a small plane en route to Lockhart River on Cape York Peninsula to look at some art. You would have approved of that - me spreading my wings and flying.
Always warm, courteous, encouraging and appreciative, personally and professionally you were an inspiration to me. Sadness reigns at the moment but something of you will remain.
joy ma john, from kolkata … this wonderful city is a continual reminder of the beauty frailty and fleeting lives we have. john, you certainly lived it to the fullest, and always shared so much with your friends and colleagues. your generosity and support, your stories and laughter will be felt (and sorely missed) for a long time. thanks for the fond memories of northbridge days.
condolences to you chloe and simon
with love xxx michele
I use to call you for advise, its not something I really thought about, you not being around but you will remebered by me and so many more.
Thanks John
from you john came your worn silk shirts, mended here and there with a needle and thread, passed onto me to make string with. the thread of remembrance,
nlalda s.
Nalda, did a vivid bluish-purplish silk shirt end up with you? “Wow, John, that’s what I call colour!” I said. “But have a look,” John said, lifting his arm to reveal a big hole. He sure loved stripey jeans and his bright yellow Crocs sandals.
Constantly reminded that an artwork (or any object for that matter) is a summation of all its meanings, the imaginary label “picked by John N. Stringer” will be on my mind when I go to TarraWarra Museum of Art next week to view his last project. All these OBJECTS we have been recording in TMS have that JS added value. As I go through the KS Collection John Stringer stories will go ‘on replay’ in my mind.
Surprising, you’ve always been, John.
There’s this sense of wonder most endearing. “Let’s go to this concert”, you said. So I offered to pick you up. I was expecting us to talk about a Mendelssohn oratorio only to be surprised by your fascination and childlike curiosity for my humble Honda. You’ve made your quick assessment. It’s a very practical sort of car, a tiny 4WD yet spacious enough to take a dog plus a few good size paintings, has a decent CD stacker. “Well, why did you not ask for a CD stacker when ordering the Subaru?”
You said, “I thought the company has been very generous. Asking for that extra would be luxury.”
The green Subaru Forester needed a make-over. We’ve never told you but Lori’s been plotting to have that re-upholstered and ‘detailed’ next time you are overseas. Then you’ll be pleasantly surprised by a sweet smelling car.
Did you drive KMS to check out new stuff at Goddard’s using Adara’s limo? We were horrified at the thought and the next moment we were cracking up.
An everyday-sort-of-man, modest, a man of the masses but not common. You never let the successes and accolades spoil you. How refreshing to see one’s boss in denim short shorts making choices on organic produce at CityFarm or weaving through the crowded Station St. markets in Subi, balancing a box full of fruits and vegies. Driving along Beaufort St. on my way to collect fish –n-chips at Mt. Lawtey I spot you and Adara in the park. You two were part of the landscape, a very comforting sight.
House proud you were in your loft-like dwelling: good set of kitchen paraphernalia, hanging pots & pans, Boris and Adara snuggling in a basket. I sit at your table and I’m suddenly transported into a NASA hangar.
The green thumb earned my respect. Seeing your healthy hanging hoyas in the living room, the bathroom and the little backyard, I offered you my gingko biloba that was miserable in the pot. “How big will it get?” you asked. “Huge, I replied, “like the ones you’ve seen in Central Park. You know the sort with leaves like maidenhair fern. It’s slow-growing - you and I will be long gone before the size becomes a problem.” “I’ll take it,” you said, and planted it in the garden.
Musical taste, I’d describe as adventurous. You did admit to me that modern composition was easier for you to appreciate; the taste for classical and the lyrical came later which I thought strange. Atonal, abstract, minimalist properties in modern music - very much like your love for contemporary art. A bit of slapping and banging gets your ancient CD player working. I hear your music at 9.00 am. In fact I have marked the passages in “Einstein on the Beach” opera as cues to early morning rituals in the office, from the moment I step out the lift, greet Adara, log into Windows. At a certain point of the opera I expect you to head for the kitchenette, get the kettle going for your Milo. My ears got trained to take Philip Glass. What a lovely surprise when you treated us all to the sublime St. Matthew’s Passion by Bach. There is salvation and redemption.
Serious worker, serious party animal. You were always on the go. I wondered where you got all that energy from. Thanks for that perfect picnic last summer. We all had mixed feelings about the ballet but the company of your extended ‘family’ was delightful. I’ll remember the ACE Christmas party last year as being special because we walked home instead of taking a cab. Merry and tipsy we walked and talked from the old brewery along the river, through CBD to Northbridge and East Perth.
So this is your last surprise, John - a real class act, bowing out with 2 shows (at MCA and TarraWarra).
You have joined Jensen “where the gods reside”. Give JWW a hug for me when you see him. Hasta la vista.
Love,
Lillian
18 November 2007
It is commonly thought that accountants are really boring,and that accountancy is completely boring….
My life is enriched by clients in the arts,and John was no exception.A client of many years,with his stories to tell and his adventures to share,I looked forward to our annual meetings to be infused with his passion for art and artists.
Thanks John for your uncomprimising enthiusiasm for the art of life
Bob Poolman
I only know John from a distance, as a student at Curtin Uni and later working in the Arts in Perth. I heard him talk on a number of occasions and was always impressed by the high standard he had towards the visual arts. I always thought John Stringer would be around. Naive I know but his contribution seemed so substantial to Perth/WA , with his well travelled/educated perspective. Thank you for your contribution.
Belinda
John was such a wonderful person. I have known John for 15 years while working at ACE. I have many happy memories of our Christmas functions and other work events. He was a tremendous man to work with. Always full of enthusiasm, smiling and laughing. He was truly a gentleman. I will miss him enormously and the office will never be the same. Thank you for being a wonderful friend and work colleague. Will miss you.
love
Sharon
We knew John for a short time and always hoped we’d cross paths again. Thank you for the roof top reds under a hot starry sky, and some advice I will never forget. See you a little further down the track. H&J
Dear John,
I have just read your bio and discovered that you curated Illusion and Reality which I saw in 1977 at the Art Gallery of South Australia. That show changed my life, thank you. I wish we could have a chat about it, Kosuth’s 1 and 3 just knocked me down! DIbbit’s hole! I saw what was possible, in a provincial city in a far away place I was moved to think like never before. I know there were many other students like myself who returned daily to revisit Illusion and Reality. That show gave us hope, I know that must sound strange but it did. Unsettle perception and open a new window. And you know it all fits - the explorer paintings, distant coasts - discovery, science, enlightenment, knowledge. You have done great things and shared them, what more could one ask of life?
Love to you from me and S - maybe we will catch up one day, molecule to molecule!
Dear John,
All of us have so much to thank you for. Apart from all the beauty and big ideas, you set an extraordinary example of how to live a life deeply, richly, and well.
Yours was the very first email congratulating me when I got the Festival gig and you welcomed me to Perth with characteristic generosity, for which I will always thank you. You gave us the stunning Transcendence and Transformation exhibition in 2005, carefully placing in front of us such beauty my heart swells to think of it, for which, thankyou again. You were part of our family at the festival. I hope you know how much you were loved and admired and respected, and how huge the void is that you leave. Yours is a life and a spirit to celebrate indeed.
I can only be there tomorrow at the concert hall in spirit, but like many others on the East coast I will raise a glass in your honour and quietly farewell one of my heroes.
Love
Lindy
When I met John in 1971, with Joel and Dale and Rosemary Hickey, a 36 year long friendship began. (I think he was wearing the black jeans and tee shirt he had on 2 weeks ago in the gallery.) John was such a supporter. Such an enthusiast. Such a validator of the most tenuous ideas and aspirations. And such a worker. When I hired the ballroom of the old government house in Perth to show a huge body of work from all around Australia, John arrived, uninvited, with tools, and spent 4 days installing. Embarrased by thanks and by any expression of the love we all had for him, he will always be a part of us.
John was one of those rare people who always young. Energetic, engaged, interested. Always about to do something or go somewhere. He collected some of the best art for Kerry Stokes and made so many great exhibitions out of that collection. I was so impressed that he collected Alfred Jensen. We first met in New York in 1984 when John was at the Americas Society and last at his Cross Currents exhibition at the MCA in September. I’ll miss these joyful encounters in life. For now they will have to wait.
Dear John,
I wish you were still here, you are irreplaceable. You were serious and thoughtful and measured, embracing a wide horizon, but you were also fun. That was a really lovely mind inside that head.
Also, thank you for your support of and interest in what I do.
Love love love — Helen
My memory of John is the expression of joy that shone through his sparkling blue eyes. They would light up whenever, around the office work table, we enjoyed one of his jovial wacky humorous moments.
Those eyes would sparkle big and blue.
Other days he would tap, tap, tap away all day on his keyboard totally engrossed with hardly a word spoken.
John drew us along with his exuberant energy and always let us know he was proud of his team and the effort we had put into a project.
We did it all for John and his pride in the Collection. He always said he had the best job in the world.
There was clear direction and thought from him. His view was always uncomplicated with ‘less is more’. The simplest and direct approach to a situation was John’s way. He gave responsibility and let one get on with the job at hand.
His relaxed and generous manner along with his immense knowledge and experience in the art world made it a privilege and pleasure to work with him.
Whenever overseas and interstate people from institutions and the art industry were in Perth, they would invariably visit John. He knew everybody and always welcomed them - pleased to have the opportunity to show them over the Collection that had expanded so under his direction.
He was a great champion of West Australian artists and was proud that his TarraWarra exhibition PEEP: glimpses of the last 4 decades from the Kerry Stokes Collection ended up with a good proportion of WA artists, not normally seen in the Eastern States, being presented along side the best of International artists.
He was very pleased to have Peep by Cecile Williams, the focal piece of the exhibition, assembled and now able to be exhibited. A work he has long wanted to feature.
I will miss him as a boss and friend - his presence at the table.
Lori Riley 18 November 2007
Its hard to believe that someone as vital and ever-present as John will no longer be at any opening or arts function in perth. What i loved most about John was the non-partisan stance he took amongst artists here. He seemed to be as inclusive as is possible in the arts while somehow keeping a particular vision. I feel very priviledged to have worked with him recently.
You leave big empty shoes John, but so glad you once filled them.
The John I know was a man of great honesty, genuine sincerity, boundless enthusiasm, tremendous passion and extraordinary vigour. He may not enjoy the fuss of being praised, but I believe in his life he showed us the value of personal integrity. Certainly, he was as inspirational as he was influentual. Thank you John, for everything.
Dear John,
I met you in 1959 through Richard, when I went to Melbourne to continue Architecture, and you drove me by Robyn Boyd houses.
We camped on Stradbroke Island, and I met June in the rain on New years eve - and you both came to Brisbane on your honeymoon.
Then we were Aussies together in New York wearing our fancy shirts that June and Sue made, we stayed at your house, and at a few camp grounds, as families together.
Years have passed and we didn’t see each other, and damb - now that won’t happen.
Explorer - a good name for your life as an adventure and your love of friendship. Thank you for the part of your life that became part of mine. It’s a good memory.
John Railton
John and I met at the National Gallery of Victoria in the mid 1950s, where he was education officer, and Lesta O’Bryan shanghied me from the children’s summer school into Justin O’Brien’s adult summer school. When we last met, we reminisced about the images that Mary Cecil Allenthe guest lecturer that summer, showed: of paintings of the New York School.
I wondered if it was because I was so young that the pictures seemed so large in memeory: but No!!! they were Enormous!!!! Huge transapencies!!!
John was very kind to a nrevous youngster during those happy weeks, and I always remember his generosity.
One was always conscious of John’s intelligence, directness, his humour and his goodwill.
John was a former member of the KEMH/PMH Art Advisory Committee. He gave willingly of his time & talents & will be remembered by us all for his generosity of spirit, his vast knowledge and his joy of life.
As well as being a true internationalist John also represents an era when there was a huge groundswell of interest in artists from Western Australia. His involvement and passion for art from WA and the integrity with which he went about it was carefully watched by a generation of collecters who in part have emulated this passion. This is a great legacy for all of us.
Thankyou John.
I find myself sitting here weeping about someone I met only twice. First when John and the Collector’s Club came to visit the central Wheatbelt Salt of the Earth installations.
Second was earlier this year when I went to see him about an indigenous Aramaic peace arts project I was dreaming up. He gave me half an hour of his time, during which he offered me contacts, letters of support/introduction when I needed them, and to be on the advisory board for selecting artists.
But more than this: he just looked me straight – (someone new to this work)– and said you have everything you need to do this, go even bigger with your ideas, seek partners, go for it.
Blessings to all those who knew and loved John beyond these two small meetings I describe. May his soul rest in the glory of what we have not yet come to know. Shl’ma John, Alaha N’yach, and thankyou.
Vivienne Robertson
Part of the shock of John’s death is that he was so youthful. It’s hard for me to articulate this sense: he seemed more in the present than most of us are. Also, his intellect was as sharp and as flexible as a young man’s, but with the deep resources of a long life of the mind. His laughter and deep enthusiasm for everything from cool minimalism to pop culture were equally infectious.
It seems crazy to write about him in the past tense. My sorrow is motivated by the loss of future time in his company that I had anticipated, but I can console myself with the memory of the many times that we enjoyed the warmth of his company in the past.
John - A true and generous human being, long time friend, consequential curator and passionate supporter of the Arts.
We will miss you immensely but you will live on in our hearts.
Thank you for being you.
Hasta la vista !
Our deepest sympathy to June, Chloe, Fergal, Phoebe and Simon and all family members.
Doug + Magda
John was “Big TIme” in his job but never aloof, a rare thing.
I first met John in 1968, in an older Melbourne about to become aware of this man’s newer world. The field, & Christo’s wool bales were the precursors of Stringer’s spectacular contribution to art & to Australia. We shared some secrets about HRT a few weeks ago, now I will have to wait a while to hear the end of the story.
The news of John’s sudden passing was a great shock to Alice and me. John was a great inspiration to me in my work at ACE, and I enjoyed every opportunity we had for contact since I joined ACE in 1996. The art and finance worlds are usually considered to be poles apart, but John was able to explain and talk about our collection in a way which drew out some great parallels, including the commonality of the aspiration of artists and ACE itself, to create something innovative, imaginative and of enduring value. Alice also enjoyed every chance she had at company functions, to discuss any and every topic with John, and John was always willing to take visiting financiers or associates around the collection. I would rarely miss a chance to tag along, listening and learning as John spoke. Those tours made a great impact on our business partners, and John thus made a real and positive contribution to the views our counterparties had of ACE. In many ways, John was the essence of why ACE is a special and different company.
The daily mail here at ACE would often include a personally addressed postcard, which John would send from one of his overseas destinations, describing a show, gallery or event, with great enthusiasm and excitement. I have kept these, and will treasure them always.
Other special memories including the chats we would have about the latest concert that was coming through Perth, and I will always remember in particular, how John and I both attended (albeit separately) the last David Bowie concert in Perth, and how wonderful we both thought it was, especially that Bowie was still creating new work, and not resting on past glories. This was very much part of John’s makeup as well - always looking for a new way to contribute to the growth of our collection, the arts community in general, or a particular artist.
His tireless work to help find a new home for our collection was also a great contribution to ACE, and I am sure that we will not rest until we realise John’s vision for this.
We also have very special memories of John attending my 4oth birthday party in 2003. John was the first person to RSVP, and it was wonderful to be able to share the night with him.
We will all miss you John, but will treasure our special memories, and will continue to be inspired by your passion and your legacy. Fare well, John.
Tania and I went to the Bangrah Street Dance party in Fremantle yesterday Sunday 18th of November, after a terrible week at school and days in shock, feeling sad about Johns sudden passing. While I was dancing I turned my head and there was John! Or so I thought it was. I went white with fright but elated at the same time. This man looked IDENTICAL to John, he had the same type of beard, same nose and he was about the same height. Tania was with me and she agreed too. So in my head I made up this fantasy that John was dancing with us because he liked dancing and he liked partying. And we danced and partied with him before in so many happy and celebratory occassions, like when he turned 70. I kept on looking at this bloke, who was with a woman, and after a few dances they left and I gave him a nod and he nodded back.
I met John through my mother-out-law Evi, who was a good friend. He was a non-assuming, charming, eloquent and sincere person and the first man I ever kissed on the lips. Well, actually he did it once when we parted ways at a dinner party. That was the way we parted ways since. It was kind of cute.
I was totally humbly flattered when years before that he bought a piece of art of mine and hung it on his wall, and John’s art collection is pretty impressive.
I liked John also because he spoke Spanish, a bit of culture he learnt in his years in Nueva York I suppose. I will miss having interesting conversations with him about art and life.
And the rhetorical question remains now: what man is going to kiss me on the lips now?
Although I never had the opportunity to meet John, he had a positive impact on my life. John was on panels where the lights finally changed to green.
Thank you
Dearest John,
No beginning or end in time, always open arms and continuing on from where we left off last. Terrific and challenging memories of the Gotham Studio days of Perth in the early 90’s, your amazing and generous support to steer my work and many, many others. An Insatiable enthusiasm to see the latest work or hear the latest political theme …. that terrific laugh, your big energy and inspiration. Thankyou. You will be missed so much. Many blessings to Chloe and Simon.
Lucille
I first met John in 1988 when I became a guide at AGWA and he was still Senior Curator there. His walkthroughs of new exhibitions were so natural and unassuming, but also so enthralling - we hung on every word.
Once he left, he was still happy to return and give us talks on contemporary art - no request was too much trouble.
In his inimitable way, he was the greatest champion of WA artists and did more than anyone to promote them nationally, particularly by including them in the Kerry Stokes collection, which he was so proud to show us on more than one occasion.
Transcendence was pure inspiration, but I remember him being particularly hurt at Sebastian Smee’s negative review - and then thrilled when his subsequent reviews honoured John’s curatorial expertise - how humble and human he was beneath that clear sighted intellect.
John, you will be so missed by the WA and national art world - and particularly by those of us privileged enough to call you a friend.
I can just imagine you now, still wearing your black jeans and pony tail, and rearranging the artworks on high!
My deepest condolences to your family -
Judith Hugo
Campbell and John’s paths crossed and recrossed over the years from the 70s in New York during Campbell’s Churchill Fellowship, working together at AGWA and generally enjoying each other’s company. I met John early in 90s after arriving in Perth and the thing that remains strongly in memory is his easy humour and warmth. John was an extraordinary, ordinary person who enjoyed life to the full and he brought his innate intelligence to everything he touched. Many peoples lives will be the less for your passing John, but what a life you lived and we were fortunate to share so many rich times with you.
Dear John,
you believed I could do it, gave me the chance to prove it to myself and pushed me gently to keep going. My life would not have been so rich if you had ignored my letter in 1989. Thanks for teaching me to keep it real.
With the greatest respect and admiration, I bid you farewell. Love Paola
John what to say, sorry not to be with you Im in Sydney today. A short while ago i spoke with Micheal Mc Millen in Los Angeles and Lyn Keinholz who you introduced me to several years ago. Micheal we will have a lunch in your honour in January and toast you with special thoughts. even the other day while hangin my show i thought now John would put his work lower and this work spaced further even thou unconventional its about making spaces dynamic. John you made our space so dynamic for so long the influence and inspiration will never leave. Cheers John like we did on Christmass day ten years ago. My son Jackson shares your birthday form here on it will be a double celebration. Love and inspiration, Jon Tarry
Like so many of us in the art scene, here in Perth, over east or overseas, I have many memories of John. One in particular stands out as saying something of the kind of person he was. I was on a street corner in Sydney with Cathy Blanchflower, who was in town for an exhibition that John had curated, when we bumped into John. He was checking out the galleries and suggested we join him. Of course John knew everybody as we went from exhibition to exhibition, and as the day unfolded his encyclopaedic knowledge of the various artists was impressive, but what really impressed me was how John made sure we were introduced to everyone, and just how willing and unstoppable his enthusiasm for art was. Even as we jumped into cabs on the way to the next gallery the conversation continued, more than once involving the taxi driver –if you were interested, then John was interested and was willing to give his time. This intoxicating enthusiasm for art, as all lovers of art understand, is simply a way of reflecting upon and celebrating life itself .John was one of the great celebrators of life .Of course his legacy in terms of his work as a curator and builder of collections here and elsewhere is immeasurable, but so is his the energy and interest he sparked in all those he met.
Richard Gunning
I am indebted to John for the support and assistance he gave me over the past 15 or so years, from opportunities to exhibit to elegant essays which helped to articulate my work to a wider audience. His enthusiasm and joi de vivre was infectious, as was his incredible knowledge and experience in the arts. He had the wonderful ability to make everyone he met feel included and important, and I will sorely miss his presence. Gone but never forgotten.
John was ageless, high on life and full of energy. I had the pleasure of traveling with him in New York and visiting gallery after gallery last year. He was always so happy to impart his knowledge and introduce you to so many different forms of art and people. I’ll miss him, his ability to share his passion for art and his enthusiasm for life. I’ll miss his laughter and his genuine friendship that he so willingly gave.
I first met John when I was working at Lawrence Wilson Art Gallery in the 1990s. John was invited to curate a show at the gallery for the Festival of Perth – that show was ‘Minimal Perfection’ and it was a truly one of the most beautiful exhibitions that has ever been held in that gallery. I was young and relatively new to the gallery world and rather in awe of the prospect of working with this legendary curator. John put me immediately at ease with his relaxed approach, his warm personality and his great enthusiasm for talking about art with anyone who shared his passion. Over the years we became good friends and colleagues, sharing many art adventures and good times. He was the warmest of human beings with an enormous generosity of spirit. He infected everyone around him with his passion for art, his love of new experiences and his incredible energy. John had a zest for life and learning like no one else I know. He made me want to be a better person and achieve more in my life.
He also wore the grooviest striped stovepipe pants…
My deepest sympathies go out to Chloe, Simon, Pheobe, Feargal, June and all his family who, along with all of us who loved him, will miss him more than he could ever know.
he seemed a nice man, nice enough for me to call on him when I spent a week in Perth setting up a show. but he was so much more than nice: John Stringer gave me so much of his time and his worldly advice. he showed me the Stokes collection he was assembling, the best galleries in Perth, the quirkiest places in the city, the places where Kangaroo paw grew wild: in short he showed me himself and he was wonderful, witty and remarkably generous. Vale John Stringer
John I came to know you quite recently, and to be truthful I was a little scared of you and your admirers, but when I talked with you, you were so down to earth, without pretentiousness but with a vision and drive of 10 or more people. I knew then that my fear was without base and that I have been very fortunate to have met, known and to continue to learn about you.
This is such a loss and one I cannot fully comprehend at the moment. I will miss seeing John and Adara at openings.
My favourite memory is when we went to IASKA at Kellerberrin. They were such good hosts at the art space and we had an amazing meal, followed on by more partying at the guest house where we were staying. John learned that I had just got a job as Information Services Coordinator at the Art Gallery of Western Australia managing the Research Centre, which I felt was my ideal job, and we had some interesting discussions. I was so enthusiastic about capturing what was going on here in Perth in the arts sector and documenting that, and John was really supportive and came in to visit me and to use the Library.
John liked to have a good time, and always being the generous host he proceeded to open more champagne that night in Kellerberrin, and soon we were all dancing around to the Velvet Underground (I cannot listen to All Tomorrow’s Parties without thinking of John). We then found swivel chairs with wheels and swung around in them doing dizzy wizzy’s and did races from one end of the room to the other. Now, this may not be mature behaviour you might be thinking, but it was just so much fun!!! I had one of the best nights I had in years and I’ll always remember it.
I later learnt after that night that John thought highly of me and I felt incredibly humbled by that. So when the time came for his exhibition seeking TRANSCENDENCE at the Art Gallery of Western Australia, I did not hesitate to look after Wolfgang Laib’s Milkstone for three months. I wouldn’t have done this for many people, but for John I did not hesitate and he was happy I did it. It was an amazing experience and is now all the more poignant. Maybe John can take all that time I spent on Milkstone as my gift to him. I don’t know what I believe but I hope it finds him well.
To Simon and his family, I hope it can bring you comfort that your father was so highly regarded. I will miss him dearly.
x paige
One of the most special people in the Australian art world - generous of spirit, always embracing of the new while honouring the past, with a big dash of personal humility mixed with a wicked sense of humour. Dear John, you will be sorely missed but remain in our hearts and minds as you always were - forever young.
John was always a great support to me both in Perth at Greenhill Galleries and since my life in Melbourne-what a great loss to the Nation-God Bless you John
John, thankyou for memories of brief days spent in Northbridge in 1990-91. Your intelligent support, enthusiasm, and hospitality during show preparation time will always be remembered and cherished. Professionally and personally yours was the midas touch. The Field and Illusion & Reality catalogues are the only ones I have so I guess I will always be catching up.
My sincere condolences to the Stringer family, and those at the Kerry Stokes Collection, Perth.
Ken Orchard - South Australia
John–the remarkable thing for me at the gig for you this afternoon was how thoroughly you were there~you quietly occupied your usual space (well, a little quieter in this new version). It was always such a pleasure to see you, even if much of the time was fleeting. That remains palpably so, as I felt your presence today amongst a big group of good friends/family.
with love, Terri-ann
John
I still can’t believe that our last coffee was our ‘last’. You have been a great friend, mentor and supportive colleague. From the day we sat and discussed your ’secret’ - the iminent departure from AGWA to become ACE’s curator - to our recent very long conversations about how to revitalize Perth, you will be a sad omission from my life. Vale, friend. Keep safe. love, f
Recently I went to New York for the first time and lived in Brooklyn. Surprisingly, because I knew what an incredibly full life he had, I found myself enjoying a long series of email conversations with John. He most generously sent me a list of the best galleries to visit but most of all- he often just kept me company. I enclose a few of his best comments…
3 Jul 07
‘Aha! Brooklyn Heights, I remember it well. Have you been down to Henry’s End to sample a meal of endangered species? It’s a restaurant at the bottom end of Henry Street - which has to be in your neighbourhood. I only went there once but they used to have such exotica on the menu as antelope, lion, etc. Maybe not to be encouraged, but the deserts were pretty good (I seem to recall).
There also is a nice little menagerie known as the Prospect Park Zoo that could interest you, but by far the best zoo experience is the Bronx Park Zoo.
So much to do, so little time? Love John’
8 Jul 07
‘Watchout for those Sunday brunches etc, they can really change the outlook.
We will have lots to share when you get back Jo, but currently I’m rather pissed in Sydney - though with any luck it won’t show up on the keyboard (though it’s a struggle - you have no idea how many wrong keys I have hit).
Take care babe! Love John
14 Jul 07
‘Dunno your pal Hubert Nueman, but I know what a blast it is to come across one of these guys and see their amazing treasures. I can understand your anger about the centralist approach - and think he is a little out of date on that one. There used to be a time that Manhattan dealers would not even cross the Brooklyn Bridge to look at studios. I wonder how he justifies the presence of Picasso, Braque and Man Ray in his collection? ‘
Me: 15 July 07:
‘I’m doing a bit of painting in the hot Brooklyn night- a group of African American men just passed by the window calling each other ‘no bitch-arsed nigger!’ and talking about ’sticking’ each other’! Phew- the temperature just rose about 20 degrees. Usually its just Park Slope yuppies with prams! Lotsa love Jo
John:
‘August in Brooklyn - I remember it well! The kids on the block opposite used to rub the top and bottom off a drink can then open a fire hydrant and use the tube from the drink can to direct water into the driver’s window of passing cars. Very popular they were - but people did not stop too often to beat them up.
Hope I see you before I leave Perth on September 10 - to get across to Sydney for the opening of my show at the MCA on September 17. Then, Los Angeles, watch out! Love John
27 July 07
‘It’s very exciting (and poignant) for me to hear of all your adventures Jo, as it is a long time since I first fell in love with the city - never dreaming that I would get the chance to live there. It truly is a global metropolis.’
I feel lucky, indeed honoured, that I had these email chats with John. I did get to see him when I got back, for a big hug but we never really had a chance to catch up properly in person. He was one of the most generous and laid-back people I know. When I think about the things he did for me and others over the years its really astounding. Does anyone else remember when he gave Artemis a lecture about the Guerilla Girls in the 80’s!
Thanks John and goodbye. You wont be forgotten.
Like everyone who knew him, I always felt supported by John. Whatever was on at PICA - exhibitions, dance, theatre, John nearly always there - and if he wasn’t it was because he was somewhere else - overseas or interstate! I’ve rarely known someone who cared so passionately and so broadly - about art - all of it. A true believer. And if he couldn’t make an opening, he’d always let you know, and I guess it’s his generosity of spirit and sheer joy in art and living and his incredibly deep pleasure in his family that like so many people remembering him now, I love to remember. And I never knew anyone who loved his job more - absolutely the best job on the planet he’d say!
The last time I saw John was the Collector’s xmas party just last year. Everyone brought along something they’d purchased in the past 12 months and John spoke to each work so beautifully and with such acuity, it was wonderful.
John you lived your life so fantastically, and your legacy is so enormous, you’re so missed and everyone is grieving but I get the feeling that your spirit is out there embracing the universe and the next adventure.
What a send-off! Such a celebration of a wonderful life which brought such joy to so many.
Let us try to appreciate people during their lifetime instead of after their death.
John
An exclusive extravagance
A quiet achiever
La joie de vivre
A warm hug
A witty spirit
A modest successful man
An insatiable vitality
An unconditional friend
A proud father and grandfather
An inspiring knowledge
A boat ride on the river
A passionate art lover
A generous curiosity
An enthusiastic generosity
A voluptuous laughter
A Simon special lime cocktail
Adara and Horace
The precious tete a tete on art
The colorful socks
The Xmas champagne on the dog’s beach
The wildflowers and the Museums
The picnics with the flies
The Bureau of Ideas best fan
Four openings in one night
Dancing without the Stars
And no faults.
You are unforgettable for all that
All my love to you John
Au revoir Johnnie!
Simon, Chloe and Fergal, Phoebe and June, Adara you are very special and admirable. All my love to you too.
Marie
John, you were so loved and will be sorely missed. Thankyou for wisdom,kindness and generosity.I will never forget how good you made me feel when hairless i was feeling revolting from chemotherapy. Still I believe the spirit never dies and your energy will live on .Thankyou for everthing and especially for the selfbelief you gave so many of us. Jo
John encouraged me to keep working exactly as my heart told me to and not to become slave to a trend.
He was very critical but great fun.
I was proud to see my work on his wall.
He was a wonderful person. Australia is the lesser
without his generosity, his knowledge and his wit.
Thanks to Kerry for the chance to “talk” John. Is there
a chance we could “see” him through TarraWarra
being brought here.
John Stringer Fan Club.
I only had the pleasure of meeting John a few times, but was very aware of his great standing in ther community, his ability and how greatly respected he was. John made a very strong contribution to the City of Perth’s Public Art Foundation and I am sure his views will be carried forward in the work the Foundation will continue to do.
John, you will be missed however your work, many fine friends and family will ensure you are never forgotton.
It was always an incredible pleasure to work with John at the Stokes Collection and, on occasion at Lawrence Wilson Art Gallery. It also meant a great deal to me that he showed interest in my work as an emerging artist. Thank you for your support and encouragement.
Dear John,
It has been a true honour to meet you. I will miss you
My last memory of John is of the email he sent me when I left ACE 8 weeks ago which brought tears to my eyes at the time and which I will share with you all. I think it says a lot about who John was and how he treated everyone around him. John was always interested to talk to me despite me being a boring accountant and completely ignorant of the art world, and I thoroughly enjoyed all of our conversations and what I was able to learn from him. His knowledge and lust for life was amazing to behold. It was a privilege to have worked with him and as he predicted in his email it does feel like a golden age is over with his passing. It is impossible to imagine ACE without him, I just assumed he would always be there!
Email;
I’m really sorry I cannot be with you on September 28 Kirsty, but I’m hoping that you may swing by the office once in a while.
I’m in New York for my vacation and also because I did not want to turn 70 at home. Deserves something exceptional.
Now my cheeks are still wet from the bulletin that just came from Ilsa.
Things are going so well for the Company but maybe in certain ways our golden age is falling apart? Boy, I hope not. We art world guys are surprisingly emotional (though it pays to keep it under control).
It has been such a pleasure working with you.
Hope you won’t think I’m fresh but I send you a big kiss.
Love
John
How many souls John reached..from reading these words of dedication..from the corporate to the artistic..building this link, in itself a great and steady achievement..how many lives richer psychologically and philosophically from fleeting conversations or in-depth discussion..a unique in life who will remain in spirit in our memories..my thoughts especially with “John’s Department” in ACE Perth, such a void you must be facing..may you maintain strength through wandering that magical cavern of a basement art space!
I was saddened and shocked to hear of John’s passing and extend my condolences to his family and so, so many close friends in Perth and around the world.
I first met John when he slipped into my first gallery in Sydney in1987. Dressed in a kind of late sixties partial hippy style I was quite surprised to learn this was the curator I had been hearing about but never met. The last time I saw him was in Perth in May when he invited myself, David Baker, the President of the Oceanic Art Society in Sydney and the writer Drusilla Modjeska to dinner. He was his usual informative, witty and warm self and was kind enough to show my friends through the collection the following day.
In between those years I saw quite a bit of John, either at my gallery in Sydney or during my trips to Perth. He was always generous and focussed with his time and no matter how busy he was could always find a few moments to have a cofffee, show me some new acquisition in the collection and have a chat about art. His art historical knowledge was extraordinary and I found myself learning new things, different ways of perceiving various art and artists from Titian and Picasso to Larry Bell and Cathy Blanchflower. He had a remarkable ability to get through the small talk and I would often find myself in a remarkable conversation sometimes within seconds of saying hello. His enthusiasm about art that he responded to and indeed to life in general was infectious and I always had the feeling following our visits that it was time well spent. He was always interested in what I was doing and encouraging when times were difficult.
It is hard to believe that he was seventy years old. His demeanour and energy were of a much younger man. His support of the Perth art scene through the collectors club and his support of the local galleries means that he will be sorely missed. I think it was fitting that his show at the MCA in Sydney which has received much critical acclaim was current at the time of his passing.
Once again, my condolences to all his family and friends.
Bill Gregory, Sydney
I will remember you John for your relentless energy. You were so much part of the art scene, it is impossible to imagine you not being here.
Art is all about values and I admired the wide spectrum of artworks that John enjoyed.
At times our points of view did not converge but it never diminished my respect for him.
In 2006 I approached him to write an essay for my catalogue and was surprised that he agreed. Not only did he accept to write it but also refused payment.
Thank you John for your continued generosity and never ending enthusiasm.
I first met John when I was appointed to the International Council of the Museum of Modern Art in New York in 1972; he had recently been appointed as assistant director to Waldo Rasmussen of the International program and I then learned of his great love of South America. Since those days we had caught up all around the world including Stony Creek (Scone) for a memorable week-end. Most recently we were on a bus to-gether at the Art Fair in Basel. I will miss those phone calls from all round the world, the dinners with Davey in Roseby and thank you, Kerry Stokes, for giving him the best job in the world. John we will all miss you so much and send our love to June and your children. Annie
Colleagues at the Power Institute and the Department of Art History & Film Studies, University of Sydney honour the curatorial work and scholarship of John Stringer. His contribution to Australian art, curatorship and art historical scholarship has generated new work and discussion for many decades. We will all miss this generous and adventurous art scholar, and a warm and positive friend.’
john,
cant believe you are gone.
i am indebted to you for your support over the years and the belief you had in my work. you were there in those first crucial years out of art school giving me confidence in my practice, and then continued to come to every exhibition i had. i always looked forward to your feedback and remember the studio visits very clearly as being positive, encouraging and completely free of intellectual baggage.
on top of this you generously welcomed me into your home and offered friendship.
i have found the last two weeks difficult, yet also strengthening, with a feeling of renewed determination to follow a vision . i suspect your passing has had the same effect on others and its been a wonderful experience to witness the arts community come together to honour your life.
all my love to you,
simon, chloe, fergal, phoebe, june and the many people missing you now
cathy
I believe that many of us will be a little wiser, more creative, adventurous, celebratory, inclusive, sad, joyous, generous and humane for having being touched by John’s fine example of a life lived full to the brim.
Thank you John.
I was a consultant to several exhibitions John curated in the ’80s at the Americas Society. I remember him, his staff, and his family with great fondness.
John touched so many people in so many different ways. He was a magnificent role model for so many of us. His very sincere commitment to art and artists was inspirational. But more than that he was a great and generous human being - a wonderful person to have known. I am grateful for having crossed his path.
I shall always owe him an immense debt for the two exceptional exhibitions he curated from the Kerry Stokes collection for the Lawrence Wilson Art Gallery. He produced two magnificent thought-provoking exhibitions, which made me see works in new ways and taught me how to display works in an exciting and challenging fashion. As always - he made me open my eyes - but in a quiet, unassuming way.
John was also a wonderful contributor as a judge of the Third National Sculpture Prize at the National Gallery of Australia - with his profound knowlege of Australian art, his excellent judgement, and his great sense of humour.
I will sorely miss him.
John’s impact on the art world was immense and his absence will leave a crater in many peoples lives. I feel privileged to have known him, even if it wasn’t that well, and felt that he was a generous and gifted gentleman. Always there with laughter and a warm smile, full of interesting things to tell us and able to open our eyes and minds to some of the greatest art on offer. He was inspirational to many and completely in touch with all.
John you were a special diamond, and are gonna be sorely missed by all your friends in Dublin.
Curator helped us get over the cringe
Daniel Thomas | November 27, 2007
John Stringer Art curator. Born Melbourne, October 2, 1937. Died Perth, November 13, aged 70.
JOHN Stringer was enticed back from New York in 1988 by Betty Churcher to be senior curator at the Art Gallery of Western Australia, where she was director. When she moved on to the National Gallery of Australia in Canberra, the job at AGWA became too administrative for him.
He resigned in 1992 and Kerry Stokes promptly offered him a job unlike any other in Australia.
Stringer became curator of the media tycoon’s personal collection but was also expected generally to promote WA art. It was a dream job for a former artist who enjoyed mixing with artists. It continued very happily until his death this month.
Stringer’s former wife June Webb, in Perth for the wedding of their daughter Chloe, found him at home when he failed to turn up for a photo shoot. Back from his early morning swim at the beach with his kelpie-dingo Adhara, he was dressed in a new Versace suit for the shoot.
Stringer, who turned 70 in October, was an adventurer in more ways than one. The invitation to a celebration of his life last week carried the words “John Norris Stringer, explorer”, and a photograph of him gazing into the future beside an iron-red hill at a pink salt lake in WA. Always whippet-thin and fit, cool and wonderfully considerate, and engaged with the wonders of the natural world as well as new international art, Stringer was going to be a great new septuagenarian.
He graduated from art studies in Melbourne, but he wasn’t destined to be a great artist. The art museum profession first knew Stringer when he became assistant curator of prints at the National Gallery of Victoria in 1957; well-known scholar and curator Ursula Hoff was his first mentor.
He shifted into exhibition management and was co-curator with Brian Finemore of The Field, a great splash of unfamiliar contemporary Australian art, for the 1968 opening of the NGV’s new building on St Kilda Road.
The previous year the Museum of Modern Art in New York had sent to Australia a big contemporary American show, Two Decades of American Painting. MoMA’s international program director Waldo Rasmussen was impressed by the young exhibitions officer and enticed him to New York in 1970 as assistant program director. International exhibition management for MoMA involved sending shows to Europe, Latin America and Australasia. In 1975, Modern Masters: Manet to Matisse, from MoMA, was the first huge box-office art exhibition presented in Australia.
Stringer returned to Australia, temporarily, to head the fledgling Australian Art Exhibitions Corporation while it toured a Chinese archeology blockbuster and his own initiative, El Dorado: Colombian Gold.
But he preferred the contemporary scene in New York. He was back there from 1978, briefly as an independent curator. He mostly did Latin American exhibitions for a gallery in Brooklyn, but he also showed Melbourne minimalist Robert Hunter and Sydney funk jeweller Peter Tully.
Then, for nearly 10 years, he ran visual arts at the Centre for Inter-American Relations, founded by David Rockefeller. Churcher saw an exhibition that Stringer curated there and tempted him to WA. But, Churcher wondered, would Stringer really want to live in WA? And would his children _ twins Phoebe and Simon, and Chloe _ approve of leaving New York? He was already divorced from June, but what about his close friend Eduardo Serrano, an art critic in Colombia?
When Churcher once released Stringer for a few days to join me on a drive through WA to see the great Aboriginal rock engravings on the Burrup Peninsula, it was easy to tell he loved the west. He travelled overseas often, still seeing Serrano and, he said, planning to live with him in old age on the Pacific surf coast of Colombia. (The long-distance relationship inevitably ran its course.)
The Stokes collection, when Stringer arrived, included 17th-century maritime material and contemporary Australian art. During Stringer’s time, the collection acquired two Monets, one of them a Waterloo Bridge bought this year; a Matisse Notre Dame; and four Picassos. Pop art and minimalism are the classic movements of the recent past, exemplified in the Stokes collection by Warhol’s soup can and electric chair screenprint suites, abstract paintings by Bridget Riley and Agnes Martin, and sculptures by Dan Flavin, Sol LeWitt and Yves Klein.
Australian and New Zealand works include WA’s Howard Taylor, Juan Davila’s notorious Stupid as a Painter and, bought this year, John Brack and Michael Parekowhai.
Stringer’s Cross Currents, the latest biennial survey of Australian art at the Museum of Contemporary Art in Sydney, closes on Monday. PEEP, an international contemporary selection from the Kerry Stokes collection, opens on Sunday at the TarraWarra Museum of Art outside Melbourne.
The exhibitions show how Stringer nurtured Australia’s present-day confidence in the international art world. He recognised excellence in local work, then proved it by a survival test in challenging international company. He told us that Hunter could be as good as Warhol.
It was through John’s New York connections and his input that I was granted an internship in the Registrar’s Department at MOMA in 1989. I will always be grateful to him for his generosity of spirit which enabled me to have the experience of a lifetime.
Kate McGurk
King Edward Memorial Hospital
Art Curator
Curator saw no boundaries
November 26, 2007 - John McDonald
John Stringer, 1937-2007
Fully committed to the art that he showed … the curator John Stringer.
John Stringer often claimed to have the best job in Australia. As the curator of Kerry Stokes’s art collection he travelled frequently and was able to acquire works that would make directors of public galleries weep with envy. Even better were the freedoms his boss allowed: to acquire unusual pieces that he felt passionate about, and to do projects for other museums and galleries.
Stokes also saw this as an important part of his curator’s role. Being able to lend Stringer to other institutions kept him inspired, he said. It constantly re-sparked his enthusiasm.
The most recent of these projects was the exhibition Cross Currents at Sydney’s Museum of Contemporary Art, for which Stringer was guest curator. This was the third - and easily the best - of a series of biennial surveys of contemporary Australian art at the museum.
It included work by senior artists such as Elisabeth Cummings and Helen Maudsley, whom one might never have expected to see at the MCA, and by talented Western Australians such as Stuart Elliott.
It was a typically independent effort by one of the few Australian curators who could be called a non-conformist. In a profession with many clones, Stringer was a maverick. He was fully committed to the art that he showed and always had good reasons for his choices. If some of his interests seemed quirky or hard to follow, this never diminished the strength of his convictions.
Stringer, who has died at 70, did not look his years. He dressed in a youthful manner, often sporting an unruly ponytail. Forever lean and wide-eyed, he had tremendous energy and a remarkable visual memory. Australian art has lost an irreplaceable fund of knowledge and experience.
John Norris Stringer was born in Melbourne to Walter and Eva, well-educated, creative people. Although he worked as a banker, Walter Stringer was also a skilled photographer who compiled an archive of backstage pictures of the Australian Ballet. The National Library of Australia holds his work. John’s younger brother, Richard, is a well-known photographer of art and architecture.
John Stringer studied Fine Arts at the University of Melbourne, and obtained a Diploma in Art from the Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology. He began his career as a curator at the National Gallery of Victoria, where he organised the landmark exhibition The Field in 1968. This was the opening show for Sir Roy Grounds’s new building, featuring works by an emerging generation of Australian abstract artists. A large number of the young artists in The Field went on to become important figures.
From 1970 to 1988 Stringer was assistant director of the international program at the Museum of Modern Art in New York, where he developed a love for the art of Latin America. He also acquired insights into the international art world and a network of friends and contacts that no Australian curator could match.
At the end of the 1980s Stringer applied for the job as director of the Queensland Art Gallery but lost out to Doug Hall, a younger and less experienced applicant. Around the same time he came out of the closet - rather spectacularly - but always maintained close ties with his wife and children.
His eventual re-entry into the Australian art world came via the Art Gallery of Western Australia, as a senior curator under Betty Churcher. There he met Kerry Stokes, then chairman of the gallery foundation. In 1992 he became curator of Stokes’s rapidly expanding collection, and bid a cheerful farewell to the public service. While Stringer always enjoyed the company of artists, he had a powerful aversion to bureaucrats and committees.
One of the great attractions of his job was that most things he wanted to do required only a brief conversation with the boss. The only time Stokes remembers feeling unhappy with his curator was when they had agreed to buy a single work from an auction, and Stringer came back with four. Don’t worry about the budget, he said. They’re great works.
Stokes liked Stringer for his positivity, and the fact that he was not stifled by boundaries. Curator and collector had this in common. To lose Stringer at a time when they had ambitious plans for the future, Stokes says, was like losing the soul of the collection.
The visionary curator and inveterate free-thinker died quite suddenly at his home in Northbridge, Perth. He had seemed well, and perhaps never happier. Like a good curator, he finished the show on a high note. John Stringer was found by his former wife, June. He is survived by twins, Simon and Phoebe, and by his younger daughter, Chloe. A celebration of his life was held in the Perth Concert Hall on Tuesday.
John,
Sorry to hear that you passed away. It’s a very sad business indeed. Thank you for all your help and support over the years and we will all miss your discerning eye.
Most sincerely,
Con
I have known John for a numer of years, as part of the WA art scene. He has been incrediably generous with his time and knowledge, and on many occasions taken time out to share his experiences with staff and students that I worked with at Edith Cowan University. This laso included access to the unique, invaluable Stokes Colection.
I will miss your presence John.
I have known you since i was born, and all through my life you have brought many wonderful things to me.
I will always remember watching movies on your projector while eating frozen yogurt ice-creams when I was very young. Also, laying in your hammocks in the back yard for hours on end! And of course, the huge, wonderfully interesting parties at your house. When you enter the room, it lights up.
I will always miss you, and every time i look at those tiny green horses you gave me I will smile.
I met Phoebe in the 4th grade, 1974, in Brooklyn. We became fast friends, and in our early teen years I was spending practically every weekend at the Stringers lively loft on Atlantic Avenue. John made such an impression on me in so many ways. He had style – a beautiful, intricately embroidered denim jacket, I believe he hand-stitched, worn with a pair of super hip striped low-slung pants. He had an awesome sound system from which he would blare the Stones, T.Rex, Bony M, and Rocky Horror and we would all dance. John rigged up two colorful hammocks right in the middle of the loft, from the ceiling, and he would all hang in one for what seemed like hours, while us kids played in the other. I remember him making me laugh until my sides hurt with his witty sense of humor. Needless to say, I was in awe of who had to be the coolest Dad on the planet. There always seemed to be guests staying at the Stringers from all over the world who seemed like such interesting, exotic people to a Brooklyn girl like me. I just loved being there with John and his family, and staring at the beautiful Colombian Gold collection he had displayed when he turned the loft into a gallery.
Reading what people have posted here, it is clear that John deeply touched the lives of so many who were lucky enough to have met him. I am so thankful now that I got to see him a couple of months ago when he and Phoebe were visiting New York. What a special man. My love to Phoebe, Simon, Chloe, and June.
Love, Steph, New York
I never met John, but that was not necessary.
I know he was a very special person, and I was honoured being entrusted to make his travel arrangements over a number of years.
I loved taking care of his travel plans.
His trips were always finely tuned to the last minute.
If ever he requested a hotel that I had not heard of some where in the world, I immediately knew it must be good and the “new in place” to stay.
It took me several days to to cancel arrangements I had in place for future trips…I just could not push the “cancel button”, but now I know there will be no more.
You were one of the best and I will miss you a lot.
Janet
‘An Obituary for John was published in the Melbourne Age newsapaper on Friday 7 December. Written by John’s close friend Andrew Gaynor, the published writing unfortunately suffered through the constraints of third party editing. The following is the actual text as written by Andrew.’
OBITUARY
John Norris Stringer
(born Mebourne 2 October 1937; died Perth 13 November 2007)
On a sunny Tuesday afternoon in Perth, over 900 people chose to turn their backs on the bucolic conditions, and converged instead on the Concert Hall to say goodbye to one John Stringer. An amazing man, a truly incredible personality who had such an inspiring impact on all who knew him that each person was able to tell their own personal ‘best of John’ story, with no two episodes repeated or overlapping. Each was a distinct tale involving the acquisition of knowledge delivered amidst a full-throttle celebration of life, and equally, each tale was uniquely personal, for John had that knack of making one feel as if they were the sole beneficiary of his focused attention for the duration of their time together.
For the last fifteen years, John Stringer had been the curator for what is now one of (if not the) most significant private art collections in Australia, belonging to Australian Capital Equity (ACE). The Director of ACE, Kerry Stokes, gave a memorable eulogy at the Concert Hall, recounting how these two – the media magnate and his maverick curator – would hit New York, trawling at least 40 galleries per afternoon. Without fail, John would be recognised and welcomed, shunted into back rooms up rickety stairs, flicking though acres of artworks, pausing selectively with shining eyes to call his boss over, saying quietly ‘Now this is significant.’ Through this unique partnership, the ACE Collection is now quite simply heart-stopping with major works by Monet, Courbet, Picasso, Matisse, Magritte, Le Witt, and Riley, alongside the Australians Brack, Bunny, McCubbin, Drysdale, Nolan, Davilla, Arkley, James Angus, Tim Johnston and such. The representation of indigenous artists, gathered in association with co-curator Anne Brody, is also profound in its complexity and depth. Yet, and this is where the unique quality of the Collection comes through, John Stringer was emphatic that local Western Australian artists should also be given the opportunity to shine alongside their more famous contemporaries, and a visit to the ACE offices was always an opportunity to encounter new and inspiring visual conversations between all these disparate artists. (And we haven’t even started on the historical documents, maps, books, ceramics etc etc.)
To occupy such a position of trust and opportunity, a person must first develop the resources that will enrich such responsibility and John Stringer’s list of achievements prior to ACE is a novella unto itself. After training as a printmaker (of some merit), John joined the staff of the National Gallery of Victoria (NGV) in 1957. Following an industrious career in their Education Department, John and his colleague Brian Finemore were given the task of curating the first temporary exhibition to open the Gallery’s new building in 1968. This became The Field, a brazen showing of the new army of younger artists (many were under 30) who were championing hard edge abstraction and colour field ideas coming out of America. Set against silver lined walls, the artworks were a revelation to local audiences and became a clarion call for the next generation of practitioners. Some forty years on, the impact of The Field still resonates, and indeed, the NGV acknowledged this with their inaugural exhibition at the new Federation Square, entitled Fieldwork: Australian Art 1968-2002.
With the arrival of the 1970s, John became restless recognising that he was in danger of becoming that most stifling of personalities in the Australian art world, an ‘authority’. Setting his sights overseas, John took his young family (wife June, daughter Chloe, and twins Phoebe and Simon) to New York, where he became the Assistant Director for the International Program at the Museum of Modern Art (MoMA). After five years at MoMA, John struck out on his own, first as a representative for the Australia Council’s Visual Arts Board, then as a Project Co-Ordinator and independent Curator, responsible in a variety of capacities for such memorable exhibitions as Modern Masters: Manet to Matisse (1975), The Chinese Exhibition (1977, featuring the Princess’ green jade suit), and Illusion and Reality (1977). This was followed by nine years at the Americas Society before Betty Churcher lured him back to Australia to become her Curator for Contemporary Art at the Art Gallery of Western Australia (AGWA).
John’s four-year tenure is still regarded as a highpoint in AGWA’s 112-year history and the Churcher/Stringer partnership resulted in some absolute masterworks entering the State Collection. Sadly, the increasingly unsympathetic machinations of bureaucracy (both within and without) finally soured the experience and following his departure, it was many years before John felt able to put a positive spin on any conversation regarding AGWA and its direction. Fortuitously, it was at this stage that Kerry Stokes renewed contact and an incredible new era started.
These career details are informative, but they still give little flesh to the vitality and inspiration that was the man himself. The tales surrounding John Stringer are legion – his passion for South America, his sense of adventure (last year, he took himself to Easter Island and Ecuador, climbing volcanoes in the footsteps of his nineteenth century hero, Humboldt), his yearly expeditions to the wildflower blooms in northern Western Australia, his dinner parties, his bracing choice in music (his coffin was lowered to Jumping Jack Flash), his leather pants, his insider tours of the world’s galleries with members of the Collector’s Club, his devotion to his family, his beloved pets Adhara, Horace, Boris and Ajax, and on to the pastoral care John showed to many of us who proudly considered ourselves members of his extended family. Knowing this compounds the sadness at the loss, for John death happened only two short days away from Chloe’s wedding to her wild Irish boy Fergal, and many had flown in from all parts of the world to join the celebrations. However, John’s far-ranging legacy remains visible in the public domain through three current major exhibitions – Cross Currents at the Museum of Contemporary Art, Sydney, Peep (highlights of the Stokes Collection) at Tarrawarra Museum of Art outside Melbourne, and at the soon to be opened Andy Warhol show at the Queensland Art Gallery.
John Stringer was, sadly, one of the last of a dying breed, the true maverick in the art world, contemptuous of hype, intolerant of humbug, able to operate at all levels of influence whilst remaining a fiercely loyal champion to the artists themselves. This is a loss which reverberates personally and to the world at large. Many are those who feel richer for having known him, and remain determined to carry his spirit forward. This will happen and he shall not be forgotten. Goodbye, dear John. Goodbye.
Andrew Gaynor
With fond memories of John - a true friend and supporter of the Flying 1000 - Royal Flying Doctor Service (WA). Remembered with affection by Mandy, Georgina, Helen, Lyn, Pam, Libby and Lesley. Photo courtesy of Viv
Brian Finemore spoke well of you John. I only met you a couple of times, but those brief encounters confirmed Brian’s opinion. He raved about how much he loved the time he stayed with you and June in New York. Brian would have been proud of your life, especially your nurturing of artists and anybody else in whom you detected creativity.
To paraphrase a rock song, in the unlikely event there’s an art curators’ heaven, they’re in for a hell of an exhibition. Don’t forget to scandalise them.
The following is the original text for Andrew’s Obituary for John which appeared on 7 December in Melbourne’s Age newspaper - but with flaws due to the sub-editting process:
On a sunny Tuesday afternoon in Perth, over 900 people chose to turn their backs on the bucolic conditions, and converged instead on the Concert Hall to say goodbye to one John Stringer. An amazing man, a truly incredible personality who had such an inspiring impact on all who knew him that each person was able to tell their own personal ‘best of John’ story, with no two episodes repeated or overlapping. Each was a distinct tale involving the acquisition of knowledge delivered amidst a full-throttle celebration of life, and equally, each tale was uniquely personal, for John had that knack of making one feel as if they were the sole beneficiary of his focused attention for the duration of their time together.
For the last fifteen years, John Stringer had been the curator for what is now one of (if not the) most significant private art collections in Australia, belonging to Australian Capital Equity (ACE). The Director of ACE, Kerry Stokes, gave a memorable eulogy at the Concert Hall, recounting how these two – the media magnate and his maverick curator – would hit New York, trawling at least 40 galleries per afternoon. Without fail, John would be recognised and welcomed, shunted into back rooms up rickety stairs, flicking though acres of artworks, pausing selectively with shining eyes to call his boss over, saying quietly ‘Now this is significant.’ Through this unique partnership, the ACE Collection is now quite simply heart-stopping with major works by Monet, Courbet, Picasso, Matisse, Magritte, Le Witt, and Riley, alongside the Australians Brack, Bunny, McCubbin, Drysdale, Nolan, Davilla, Arkley, James Angus, Tim Johnston and such. The representation of indigenous artists, gathered in association with co-curator Anne Brody, is also profound in its complexity and depth. Yet, and this is where the unique quality of the Collection comes through, John Stringer was emphatic that local Western Australian artists should also be given the opportunity to shine alongside their more famous contemporaries, and a visit to the ACE offices was always an opportunity to encounter new and inspiring visual conversations between all these disparate artists. (And we haven’t even started on the historical documents, maps, books, ceramics etc etc.)
To occupy such a position of trust and opportunity, a person must first develop the resources that will enrich such responsibility and John Stringer’s list of achievements prior to ACE is a novella unto itself. After training as a printmaker (of some merit), John joined the staff of the National Gallery of Victoria (NGV) in 1957. Following an industrious career in their Education Department, John and his colleague Brian Finemore were given the task of curating the first temporary exhibition to open the Gallery’s new building in 1968. This became The Field, a brazen showing of the new army of younger artists (many were under 30) who were championing hard edge abstraction and colour field ideas coming out of America. Set against silver lined walls, the artworks were a revelation to local audiences and became a clarion call for the next generation of practitioners. Some forty years on, the impact of The Field still resonates, and indeed, the NGV acknowledged this with their inaugural exhibition at the new Federation Square, entitled Fieldwork: Australian Art 1968-2002.
With the arrival of the 1970s, John became restless recognising that he was in danger of becoming that most stifling of personalities in the Australian art world, an ‘authority’. Setting his sights overseas, John took his young family (wife June, daughter Chloe, and twins Phoebe and Simon) to New York, where he became the Assistant Director for the International Program at the Museum of Modern Art (MoMA). After five years at MoMA, John struck out on his own, first as a representative for the Australia Council’s Visual Arts Board, then as a Project Co-Ordinator and independent Curator, responsible in a variety of capacities for such memorable exhibitions as Modern Masters: Manet to Matisse (1975), The Chinese Exhibition (1977, featuring the Princess’ green jade suit), and Illusion and Reality (1977). This was followed by nine years at the Americas Society before Betty Churcher lured him back to Australia to become her Curator for Contemporary Art at the Art Gallery of Western Australia (AGWA).
John’s four-year tenure is still regarded as a highpoint in AGWA’s 112-year history and the Churcher/Stringer partnership resulted in some absolute masterworks entering the State Collection. Sadly, the increasingly unsympathetic machinations of bureaucracy (both within and without) finally soured the experience and following his departure, it was many years before John felt able to put a positive spin on any conversation regarding AGWA and its direction. Fortuitously, it was at this stage that Kerry Stokes renewed contact and an incredible new era started.
These career details are informative, but they still give little flesh to the vitality and inspiration that was the man himself. The tales surrounding John Stringer are legion – his passion for South America, his sense of adventure (last year, he took himself to Easter Island and Ecuador, climbing volcanoes in the footsteps of his nineteenth century hero, Humboldt), his yearly expeditions to the wildflower blooms in northern Western Australia, his dinner parties, his bracing choice in music (his coffin was lowered to Jumping Jack Flash), his leather pants, his insider tours of the world’s galleries with members of the Collector’s Club, his devotion to his family, his beloved pets Adhara, Horace, Boris and Ajax, and on to the pastoral care John showed to many of us who proudly considered ourselves members of his extended family. Knowing this compounds the sadness at the loss, for John death happened only two short days away from Chloe’s wedding to her wild Irish boy Fergal, and many had flown in from all parts of the world to join the celebrations. However, John’s far-ranging legacy remains visible in the public domain through three current major exhibitions – Cross Currents at the Museum of Contemporary Art, Sydney, Peep (highlights of the Stokes Collection) at Tarrawarra Museum of Art outside Melbourne, and at the soon to be opened Andy Warhol show at the Queensland Art Gallery.
John Stringer was, sadly, one of the last of a dying breed, the true maverick in the art world, contemptuous of hype, intolerant of humbug, able to operate at all levels of influence whilst remaining a fiercely loyal champion to the artists themselves. This is a loss which reverberates personally and to the world at large. Many are those who feel richer for having known him, and remain determined to carry his spirit forward. This will happen and he shall not be forgotten. Goodbye, dear John. Goodbye.
This speech was given by Susan Clements at the Annual Collectors Club Xmas party on the 2/12/2007.
———————————————————–
Tonight I would just like to speak of John as he encompasses all we have achieved this and every year.
This afternoon as I was looking around our home I realized what a lovely feeling it gave me to see all the paintings and sculptures that all remind me in some way of John – it is a great memory to have and one I’m sure you all share with me.
John Stringer a passionate and visionary curator whose contribution to the Australian and international art world over five decades will be sadly missed.
Tonight for us is so much more personal a very sad occasion but it is also a celebration of all the 11 amazing years we have had with John on 133 different occasions 5 incredible trips - Melbourne art fair twice, Venice, Berlin and the last fantastic trip to New York. How lucky and privileged are we to have shared so much with John how many wonderful memories we have to treasure.
John - the passionate, unconventional, visionary and modest curator who cared so much about WA and its young artists, always fostering them in a positive and affirming way. The collectors club was really an extension of John’s feelings one of its prime objectives being to support and promote these artists and the other major objective to increase and encourage collectors in our community.
The collectors club is a tribute to John who has guided us so knowledgeable, joyfully, enthusiastically and in the right direction along the path of collecting. He has given us a greater understanding of artists, their works, and he has opened up and created another world for us to enjoy for the rest of our lives.
I only said on Monday night at our meeting - to arrange tonight and next years calendar “without you John the club would not exists”. When I heard the devastating news my first thought was we cannot continue, since then so many people have expressed the feeling we must for John’s sake continue and I guess for our own sakes as well. But we need to spend time thinking of ways in which John would have envisaged the continuation of the club and meet next year to put all of our ideas together.
John has changed the way we view art and has taken us on a journey to greater appreciation which will forever enrich our lives
Goodbye John we loved you and will miss you always
A joyous memory of a loft banquet given by June and John in New York. The festive season, 1969 I think, the year of the moon landing, the Metropolitan Museum’s first block buster in a series of 10 and the Mets win after 11 years of losing! John loved dancing and I loved dancing so we danced. His energy flowed out to everyone - family and friends and strangers. Rock on in our memories John.
John was a wonderful man, lots of fun and incredibly perceptive.
During his tenure at The America’s Society, he helped many Latin American artists establish their work in New York. He also had a genuine love and knowledge of the work of Pre Columbian archaeologists, particularly Mayologists, and organized exhibitions of their research and findings in their field.
If his absence from the New York art world was deeply felt when he moved back to Australia, what will we do now without a John Stringer but remember his passion for art and his insightful sense of humor? He shall be missed.
I remember John as a loyal, nurturing, very, very special generous friend.
I guess, our turn is next.
In the meantime, let’s be kind to each other.
John Stringer, in Memoriam
I met John after he was appointed Visuals Arts Director at the Americas Society in New York. He lived on Atlantic Avenue in Brooklyn where he would frequently invite friends over. When the Museum of Modern Art of Bogota decided to do the first retrospective on my work, John was asked to curate the exhibition. For the next 6 months, John would come to my studio once a week and look through everything, the art works, prior writings and photographs, but above all he asked many questions that would lead to pointed discussions that we would continue through the evening joined by my husband Mayer. In the end, John wrote a six-part piece for the catalogue, the most in-depth investigation into my work in the 1962-1986 period. The exhibition opened in Bogota early in 1987. John went down to hang the show and attend the opening where one of the photographs I am offering was taken. We were exhilarating happy with what had been achieved. The second photograph is with Enrique Grau and myself in Grau’s home in Bogota.
John left for Australia shortly after but yearly came back to New York to see and buy art. He would always reserve time for us; sometimes we would take day trips to see nearby museums. The last time I saw John was last October. He was celebrating his 70th birthday and had given himself the gift of this trip. We went together to the opening of an exhibition of works by our mutual good friend Luis Cruz Azaceta and later to dinner at a Venezuelan restaurant.
I will remember John as a dear friend, a warm person to be with, one that took his work in art very seriously and passionately, and a connoisseur and supporter of Latin American art. Mayer and I miss him very much. To June and his children and grandchildren he loved so much, to all his friends the world over, we share in the grief of his loss.
Fanny Sanin, New York, 2008
anne marie and thomas…
…
None…
None…
I only heard this news today and am very sad to hear it.
When I was 18 I met John, through his son Simon, and became friends, living around the corner. He was always welcoming to me, and other of our friends. Taking us for champagne picnics, having chilled Vodka parties, sleepovers in his hammocks, laughing at his tobacco eating parrot. Such sad news, sorry I am late.
Best to all the Family, love to hear from Simon and Chloe.
All the best,
Ari
Out of the box
The Australian Newspaper article.
Curator John Stringer’s legacy lives on in the remarkable Stokes collection, writes Ted Snell | June 21, 2008
PEEP: Glimpses of the Last Four Decades from the Kerry Stokes Collection
Art Gallery of Western Australia, Perth.
Until August 25.
JOHN Stringer’s tours of the Kerry Stokes collection, in the Australian Capital Equity building on Kings Park Road in Perth, were unforgettable.
Bounding from one work to the next like a tightly wound spring, the curator’s roll call of names and artworks was interspersed with details of their purchase.
His eyes would sparkle when recounting a well-planned but arduous search; a chortle would accompany the retelling of a surprising discovery. The memory of a new work arriving in Perth, to be hung in the first-floor gallery, was always the catalyst for a wide smile.
Stringer had “a talent for unearthing the right stuff”, Stokes has said. From 1992, when he joined the Stokes collection as curator, until his sudden death last November from a brain aneurysm, he steered his employer towards many extraordinary purchases. Working together they built one of the most important and extensive private collections in the country.
In his catalogue introduction to PEEP: Glimpses of the Last Four Decades from the Kerry Stokes Collection, on show at the Art Gallery of Western Australia, Stokes acknowledges his curator’s vision and passion: “His attention was always intensely focused and well-informed,” he explains, and as a consequence “the collection is a creative and dynamic entity, full of rare and enlightening juxtapositions.”
Those rare and enlightening juxtapositions are now available to a wider audience and although he is not physically present, Stringer’s spirit pervades the exhibition.
With characteristic aspiration and zeal, Stringer threw a net around the past fourdecades of contemporary international arts practice and pulled in an extraordinarily diverse and exotic catch entirely from the Stokes collection.
The exhibition also, very characteristically, shows his dedication to promoting the work of early career artists and in particular those from WA. From his experience of international practice he had no doubts about the quality of their work and his support and encouragement grew from a conviction that these artists are engaged in a sophisticated dialogue with the rest of the world.
This is elegantly revealed in the selection of works and the thoughtful installation at the AGWA. Here is a clear insight into the artists and arts practice that really excited Stringer personally and professionally. Throughout his 30 catalogue essays on each of the artists and their work, he reiterated his interest in several key attributes. The first was his deep respect and abiding fascination for the processes and skills required to give ideas material form.
Bridget Riley’s paintings are described as “a tribute to old-fashioned manual skills”, James Angus is praised for his “meticulous manufacture”, Ed Ruscha for his “outstanding and inventive skills as a draftsman” and Alfred Jensen for his “meticulous planning and methodical execution”.
Stringer constantly returns to this idea of fabrication and the almost magical link between hand and brain. Steve Tepper’s work is described as “thoughtfully conceived, carefully crafted and highly sophisticated” and Tim Lewis’s use of technology in his extraordinary strobing zoetrope, Because We are Small, is affirmed as “an example of something invented and constructed entirely from parts manufactured by the artist himself”. It’s certainly true that the finesse in the fabrication of these works is extremely seductive.
The craftsmanship in Cecile Williams’s cardboard tableaus in Peep, the work that gives the exhibition its name, Howard Taylor’s immaculate surfaces in Divided Sphere, Christo’s Double Store Front and Walter de Maria’s crisply manufactured, polished stainless-steel construction, draw us into an intimate relationship with the work, but it is only the beginning of our engagement. This attention to the hand skills of the artist and the formal qualities of the completed artwork is clearly important as a point of entry and as a conduit for ideas, but it is the quality of the ideas that is always the magnet for Stringer.
Another recurring theme in the 30 catalogue essays is the originality of vision and the unique take on the world these artists offer. Haim Steinbach is praised for “taking the commonplace and making it exceptional through a change of context”, Lucas Samaras for his “lack of conformity”, Taylor for the “originality of his vision and his outstanding versatility”. Miriam Stannage’s work is described as “oblique and enigmatic” and Mike Starn and Doug Starn are lauded for their “exceptional visual and intellectual dexterity”.
Throughout the exhibition this sense of surprise is addictive as one work after another takes us into unknown territory where we must wrestle with new interpretations, different viewpoints and disruptive paradigm shifts.
The ideas that excite Stringer are those that address the really big issues of universal significance. In his essay on Angus’s An Astronomical Proposition, he alludes to the artist’s “exploration of natural and synthetic order” and muses on his ability to find the familiar in the universal and, in the process, connect our lives to some great order of existence. The imperative to find harmony and to make some sense of our lives is clearly one of the poles of Stringer’s curatorial interest.
Few visitors to the exhibition are likely to know Jensen’s work. A friend of Mark Rothko and well known in the New York art scene without aligning himself to any of its artistic currents, Jensen created his massive works in sections so he could work on them in his studio and show them in other configurations until the time when they could finally be assembled in their totality.
Bringing together diverse themes that included climatology, magnetic polarity, mathematics, ancient architecture, colour theory, planetary cycles and, we can assume, much more, he created works such as Where the Gods Reside (almost 10m long) whose balance, clarity and symmetry evoke a sense of cosmic order.
According to Stringer, Jensen’s expansive vision and grand design “extol idealism, perfection and divinity”.
This search for understanding and enlightenment is evident in many of the works in PEEP. It is highlighted in Stringer’s commentary on Taylor’s Divided Sphere, where he first identifies the echo of natural forms and optical experience in the use of the circle and disc as a reference to the sun and moon, and goes on to suggest that the artist’s work is “evocative of atmosphere, mood and spiritual phenomena”. It is the potent ambiguity — and the possibility of finding insight — that drew him to the work of such artists as Taylor.
Tepper’s exquisitely subtle series of 33 aluminium sections aligned to create a circle, but fractured by the ambient light that casts strong rectangular shadows, is installed close by. Displayed outside in natural light, its shadows would change constantly like a sundial; but inside the gallery the shadows are fixed and provide a marvellous sense of a second circle that hovers mysteriously alongside its parent.
Stringer describes it as eliciting a “benign sense of optimism and spirituality” and it is a convincing argument when standing in front of the work while remaining open to the seemingly endless flow of ideas it generates and the quiet and reflective mood it engenders.
This sense of openness is one of the attractions of Ian Hamilton Finlay’s concrete poems: despite their beautifully crafted typography and structural integrity, Stringer concludes that “their precise meaning is elusive”. That doesn’t mean they are meaningless or even obtuse; instead it suggests that these works by Taylor, Tepper, Finlay and many others in the show are able to contain and sustain complex formulations of ideas.
When seeking answers to significant questions we don’t expect a one-liner or even anumber. There is no expectation outside TheHitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy that theanswer 42 can really solve our deepest hopes and fears; instead we seek in art visualpropositions that will prompt us to thinkand find alternative interpretations that will in themselves generate other possibilities and opportunities.
From his catalogue entries for this show, Stringer obviously found that potential in the works he purchased for the Stokes collection.
This exhibition has now come home after its initial run at the TarraWarra Museum of Art in Victoria. On the walls of the AGWA the inclusion of works by local artists is unsurprising.
Stringer’s curatorial brief for this show, however, had at its core the idea of introducing a group of younger WA artists, whose work would be unfamiliar to a Victorian audience.
Typically, he took the opportunity to promote artists he believed were making a contribution to an international dialogue about contemporary practice. An artist such as Christian de Vietri, now studying in New York, is a typical Stringer protege: highly skilled in a range of techniques and prepared to address big questions such as faith, politics and global concerns. His Lightbox #9 (Chemicals, Biohazards, Burns, Slips, Falls, Barnacle) is one of a series of 12 large works that replicate the formal qualities of gothic stained glass windows.
Using pie charts and bar graphs generated from hits on thousands of websites dealing with the subjects listed in the title, he has created an illuminated window that plays out the traditional theme of judgment in Christian theology.
Witty and intellectually sophisticated in his development of the theme, innovative and technically brilliant, de Vietri is exactly the kind of artist Stringer sought out, whether working in New York, Colombia or Perth.
It was WA’s great fortune that he chose to live in the state and, through his role as curator of the Stokes collection, was in a position to purchase and promote the work of local artists.
Ultimately, it’s impossible not to read this exhibition as a manifesto. Stringer, who could not have known this would be his last exhibition, nevertheless provided through his insight and scholarship, his passion and vision, a declaration of his principles as a curator.
He was interested in art that sought answers to important questions in unusual and untrammelled territory. He respected the craft of making art and was dedicated to promoting Australian artists, as his friend and colleague Daniel Thomas acknowledged in the obituary he wrote in The Australian last year.
Stringer recognised excellence in local work, then proved it through a survival test in challenging international company.
He told us that Hunter could be as good as Andy Warhol and we can now add that Stannage holds her own against Samaras, Angus against Jim Campbell, Lewis against Philip Gamblen and Taylor against them all.
fruits are fun- south park…
How do you come up with so much material to blog with?…
I remember John’s spirit and how well he lived life. While attending college at NYU, I worked for him at the Americas Society in New York. I was a friend of John’s children, Phoebe and Simon. At 50 he was the world’s oldest teenager. I remember the four of us went out to a club called the Saint. John was drunk and drove me home; he jumped the curb onto the sidewalk, smiled and said “door to door service”. A few hours later John was at work at 8:00 am, Phoebe and I crawled into the gallery at around noon. That was my boss, work hard and play hard.
Every once in a while you come across someone, just by being who they are, influence you and open your eyes. I feel very fortunate to have known him.
John was also a great father, who raised wonderful children.
My heart goes out to his entire family.
–Sergio Vazquez
John, we only once or twice, but you impressed me with the warmth of your greeting, remebering the first meeting a year or so after as if it were only a day, and as if I had been a lifetime friend. Your generous sharing of knowledge, and spotaneous response to questions, you embody generosity, It was a pleasure to have met you
english student see greed are boat cube letter german steven head wood steven trust
Sad to hear belatedly of the passing of a great man.
I only knew John for a short time in the early ninetys but he taught me four very important things -
* hammocks are just as useful inside as out.
* art is food for the soul
* walls at angles make for great living spaces.
* age or position should in no way preclude you from having a good time.
I am thankful for the short time I had the preasure of knowing you John.
Heartfelt condolences to beautiful Chloe.
John, one year on we miss you even more. You will always be in our hearts, till we meet again .
Slan,
Dylan, Zoe, Rhiann and Declan
Dear John, again a sad day - one year on; you have gone, but you will always be with us in our hearts and thoughts.
The previous exhibition at our Galerie Dusseldorf, the ‘family’ show “Triptych” was dedicated to your memory by the artists and us:
your friends Hilarie Mais, Bill Wright, Jessica Mais Wright and Doug and Magda Sheerer.
We all thank you for your friendship and inspiration. Hasta la vista !
It’s 2009 and I am just finding out now about John’s death!
What a loss! He is someone you never forget - brilliant, funny, someone who could construct something fantastic out of nothing. We worked together for 6 years at the Center for Inter American Relations until I moved away from New York. What memories. I was the “token” Canadian, along with Kathleen who never stopped smoking and Richard the best looking and best dressed assistant you could ever have. All four of us worked in a tiny office space with one window until John decided to build us each a separate area with a loft (to house our ever growing book collection) above us.
My heart goes out to June, Simon, Phoebe and Chloe.
nehuy spamit s icq…
Very usefull. Thanks! nehuy spamit s icq…
Miss you John.Jorge Salazar
John was a warm, hospitable man who never judged anyone harshly. The following things I associate with John:
Jefferson Airplane, Absolut Vodka, red wine, rhubarb, Adara, beauty, kindness. Hammocks!
Not a day goes by that I don’t remember John. Fond memories of a great friend. You taught me so much about life and how much we need to embrace it. I miss you terribly, but I know that you are never far. You are forever in my thoughts. Paul
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