Sydney High Rise Variation #1 for Les Murray

T. Renner, "Sydney High Rise Variation #1 for Les Murray," 2009, acrylic on paper, 5" x 7".

Chris King, artistic director of Poetry Scores, writes:

Tony Renner is prodigiously productive as an artist and has a fancy for variations. I was hoping he would produce a set of variations for our Art Invitational to The Sydney Highrise Variations by the great Australian poet Les Murray, and he did not disappoint.

This is "Variation #1" from a set of 18 that all bear the title "more complex in their levels than their heights/and vibrant with modernity's strange anger".

Like all of the pieces being made for the show, its title is drawn from the poem. We then display the work according to where in the flow of the poem the title appears. These lines Tony has chosen conclude the poem. There is something of a traffic jam at the end, with many people falling for the last few lines, and I don't blame them; they are really evocative lines.

Six hundred glittering and genteel towns
gathered to be urban in plein air,
more complex in their levels than their heights
and vibrant with modernity's strange anger

Colin Michael Shaw, Eric Woods and Daniel Shown also are making art with titles drawn from this language, and Daniel's also is a set of variations. I love this stuff.

The Invitational is scheduled for Friday, Nov. 13 at The Luminary Center for the Arts, which is a really amazing space across from Tower Grove Park and just down Kingshighway from The Royale.

All work will be for sale on silent auction, with proceeds split three ways between the artist, the venue and Poetry Scores, a Missouri nonprofit that translates poetry into other media. After-party at The Royale.