Mirror, mirror

WALKER Street Gallery and Art Centre’s 9 by 5 exhibition is on display until 22 December.
It features more than 100 small-scale artworks in various styles, from landscape paintings to abstract works, collage and conceptual pieces.
Neil Wanstall’s Spiegel im Spiegel is one of them.
“It’s a little complicated,” he said.
“It’s based on a piece of music by an Estonian composer, Arvo Part.
“It means reflection in reflection in reflection.”
It’s made from smoke and mirrors.
“It has no substance in the sense that I’m relying on the reflection in the mirror to act as a foreground and background and it’s continually changing,” he said.
“No one will see the same thing.
“It’s an attempt to get away from the usual foreground-background thing, play with non-material things.”
The concept for the exhibition comes from the original 9 inch by 5 inch Exhibition of Impressions displayed at Buxton’s of Swanston Street, Melbourne, in 1889.
Late 19th century impressionist painters exhibited painted wooden cigar box lids which usually measured 9 by 5 inches as a way to engage audiences with the then-new art form of impressionism.
Walker Street Gallery and Art Centre’s 9 by 5 exhibition draws together artists from across Victoria, and from south east Melbourne in particular.
The free exhibition ends on Saturday 22 December at 3pm. Most works on show are for sale.