George Gittoes launches second art exhibit in Newcastle with Cooks Hill show

The Cooks Hill show opens on Friday, February 21, from 6 to 8pm.

George Gittoes: on being there features at Newcastle Art Gallery through April 26. That show, which was curated by Dr Rod Pattenden, of the Adamstown Uniting Church, features a collection of significant artworks, photos and films ranging from 1970, when Gittoes was instrumental in creating the Yellow House art collective in Kings Cross, to the current period, which features artworks made during and after the filming of his documentary, White Light, which addresses the causes and affects of gun violence in the south side of Chicago.

Meanwhile, the Gittoes show at Cooks Hill features a handful of mostly smaller portrait works, all for sale, focusing on Gittoes time in Miami, where he filmed a documentary, Rampage, featuring the lives of three brothers from the ghettoes; and works from Baghdad, Afghanistan, and Chicago, where he filmed the documentary White Light, about deadly gun violence on the notorious south side of the city.

While Cooks Hill director Mark Widdup had not met Gittoes before the show, it came together through a mutual friend, artist Gavin Fry.

"George is having quite a road show in Newcastle through the month of February," Widdup says, "so this is an opportunity for people to see the contrast between the survey show and contrasting works here."

The Cooks Hill show is based on works that Gittoes has revisited, Widdup says.The diversity and standard is pretty consistent, with work dating back to 2002, he says.

Prices range from $25,000 for Albert Praying, a work from Chicago, to $1500 and up, for smaller portraits.

Other Gittoes events include