What’s brewing in fairy tale land? How about ArtBoy’s exhibit featuring roughly 25 different Melbourne artists painting, sketching, or digitally computing their interpretation of their favorite fairy tale? But, these aren’t the tales of the little damsels from my school days. Red Riding Hood’s clenched fists say ‘I can handle myself.’ Who’s afraid of the Big Bad Wolf now?

ArtBoy, that bold alabaster space on Greville Street in Prahran, is a retail and exhibition gallery for Melbourne's talent. Featuring only the most audacious and progressive artists in group shows, ArtBoy seamlessly blends the emerging and established in themed exhibitions…An animated thrill every time. And, I've been favoring ArtBoy for a year now.

Why do we love Fairy Tales so much? There’s Hansel & Gretel, the abandoned children who had to flee from an old lady trying to eat them, Snow White who had to flee from her Step Mother trying to kill her, and who can forget beautiful Rapunzel whose father bargained her for his life. Why do we read these stories to our children before bedtime? I’ll tell you why. Because, Hansel & Gretel cooked that old witch, Snow White lived happily ever after, and Rapunzel found her prince. Defeat and triumph over adversaries Hans Christian Anderson was trying to say…

ArtBoy’s Fairytales will only be on view until mid April before they move on to their new exhibit 'Going Nuts'. I highly advise taking a peek at Granny Red in her bustier or the Good Huntsman who’s credits boost not only a swelling eight pack, but I think the card underneath read he was a plastic surgeon as well. I always enjoy interesting spins on Classics…

Black and white is always striking. Flowers are yonic. Blend well and welcome your eyes to a voluptuous wanton of emotion. That is how I describe Huang Xu's exhibition 'Flowers.' 'Beautiful', 'breathtaking', and 'striking' might come to mind when gazing into the depths of one of his blooming clusters, but for an artist who gives with such exquisite skill and emotion, I feel that the common 'beautiful' is well...feeble.

Spotlighted and framed against the walls, at first glance Xu's images erupted a slight gasp from my lips. The sharp focus of his lens stirred the petals into a theatrical waltz where they bellowed and moved in an extraneous way that was both angelic and carnal.

Suspended in black and framed in light, the flowers evoked the come hither exoticism found in the creatures of the ocean's depths. Under Xu's interpretation they looked far removed from the plum, orchid, chrysanthemum, and bamboo that they were, and erred on the edge of being beyond our world.

My first experience of Huang Xu's extreme close-ups was like an overwhelming sensual escape into the beauty of art. Through the folds and gaps of the petals, his play of dark and luminous, Xu invites the audience to an other worldly arena. The overlooked is emphasized through scale and light to compose a theatrical feat rarely experienced in still life.

I invite you to visit one of Melbourne's Contemporary Art Spaces, Arc One Gallery where you can experience his stills yourself until April 14.