Following is a condensed version of her opening speech.

In this exhibition is the perfect example of art meeting technology - on a series of levels. CP Snow insisted that art and science did not mix. Where was he coming from? Firstly he obviously did not think of photography as a product of science or as an adjunct to science let alone as an art. And of course, he did not know about the new technology - the sophisticated sciences of computers - for herein is the most exquisite example of the marriage of science and art since the invention of the oil paint.

This gallery spreads it's exhibitions far beyond the walls on which it hangs it's works. This gallery spreads it's presence through cyberspace and can be reached by anyone anywhere in the world who has a telephone, a modem and a computer. This means a boggling 50million people can, if they choose, pop in to The Red House for a browse.

Robyn Taylor is, as an Internode founder, one of the pioneers of this form of mass communication. And, she is also an artist. An interesting artist insofar as she is one of those who has left the conventions of photography, blurred the boundaries in a literal as well as metaphorical sense, and made the precision of photo realisim an impressionistic medium.

Waterlily I 1996, © Robyn Taylor

Waterlily II 1996, © Robyn Taylor

Fishyfish 1996, © Robyn Taylor

Waterlily III 1996, © Robyn Taylor

Waterlily IV 1996, © Robyn Taylor

There is more to this than meets the eye. It is a brave use of an artform which has largely based its merit on its ability to record fact. Photos do not lie. Taking what is classically understood as good photos - sharp, exact, well-composed representations of reality - are but one string to her bow. She goes further and expresses pure art via the camera lens - breaking the traditional rules to create soft, whistful thought images. She allows her public to pilgrimage into her images to find their own delights. As someone with a background of painting and drawing, she calls on people's imaginations now in the form of photography- perhaps we see this flower through a veil of tears, or a summer rain. Perhaps it is of a mental cloudland, or a dreamscape...or visions one has behind the eye as one goes to sleep.

Robyn Taylor is one of the most TODAY people around. She will hate me saying this, but she is entirely new age - in the nicest possible way. She sees with her camera and seers with her mind. She also is a seer - an astrologer. And a singer, too, I may add.... AND, she also is a woman of the new technology. Her work is on the internet. She has her own home page as well as her images in The Red House Gallery's home pages. As well as being a director of the hottest internet providers in the country, Internode.

I have yet to discover Mike Slattery on the net. Tsk tsk. But then again I understand he has been very busy in other ways and gaining kudos by being part of the Australian Institue of Professional Photographers' Print Awards - which is something of a class act in the photography world. Mike is the other side of the coin from Robyn.. He is a "lightweight". And I mean that in the nicest possible way. Mike is a master of light. Like the great artists, Turner, Constable, could capture the nuance, brilliance, subtlty..that transient moment of miraculous light, so does Mike with the camera. We all think photography is easy because we have a camera...we think it is easy because we don't really know how. But of course when you KNOW ---ah...it's a different matter! Mike is the proper, qualified techie of the photography business.

It is a sophisticated and complex business - pointing the lens and clicking is a tiny facet of the procedure. Mike's a making a living as a professional nitty gritty focused photographer. And what we see here is his underbelly.... this is his artist's eye, as opposed to his commissioned challenges. This is what he loves and feels. And it is beauty sheer and simple - enhanced by utter expertise. This is timeless art. It pairs well with the loose fantasy of Robyn - showing the wonderful breadth of phtoography as an art form. And in mounting this exhibition, may I say, The Red House Gallery shows just how on-the-mark it is with the movements of the art world.

For the good news is that photography is the art form which is on the international upswing - it is back in fashion as art...after decades of struggling to get showings. This movement is perhaps coincidental with the new facility of moving images across the glove via computers and the net - but it is synchronous. And photographers of all sorts are currency now. Believe me. I just met one working for Bill Gates - travelling the world as part of Gates's $50 million project to create the biggest image data base in history. Gates is not stupid. He knows that photos are currency and he is investing big to corner the market. So all I can say is that we should buy up big now - before Gates is onto these two and there's nothing left for us!!

This page has been hit times since 15th May 1996.