Archive : 2024
April 3 - April 20, 2024
Odessa Mahony-de Vries
Spilling Over is loud, colourful, and energetic, putting the handmade front and centre through bold brushstrokes. This exhibition features recent abstract expressionist paintings on canvas and ceramics, pushing the materiality of paint to the forefront using layering, fluidity and sculptural forms. Driven by the physicality of paint and colour, Odessa channels them into an active exploration of process. Working quickly, responding immediately, she navigates the interplay of painterly gestures and dynamic compositions to find resolution. Often, borders are created within the canvas, only to be disregarded and dismantled later by extending the paint and blurring lines.
Tallulah Ainsworth and Sophie Johnson
What do we want? We want to bite and hold and care and hug and love and laugh and bark
Who are we? Just creatures. All just creatures
We want to know what makes us. What lives inside us. What internal mess creates a being?
Pack mentality is an exploration of complex interpersonal relationships through the dichotomy of canines and humans. Sophie Johnson presents an idealized version of human connections, contrasted against the simplicity of animal bonds- depicted by Tallulah Ainsworth. Simultaneously, we confront the dynamics of human interactions, emphasizing the struggle between aspiration and the complexities of daily life. How animals interact and form interpersonal connections is a mirror image of human beings but whittled down to a basic level, uncomplicated. Reflective of everything we want to be and everything we loathe to be. Primal instincts reside within us, awaiting the opportunity to break free from the confines of conscious thought, the dogs are unburdened by this. Their companionship is our catharsis.
Alex Slattery
"Oh, what grievous sin it is!" is an exploration of the subtle, intricate emotions that define our human experience. In this collection of 15 to 20 works, I aim to delve into the juxtaposition of our interconnectedness with the people and world around us with the poignant moments of loneliness that often accompany it. Through my art, I seek to capture the essence of those emotions that are felt but rarely expressed, the moments of quiet contemplation, and the delicate threads that connect us all.
March 13 - March 30, 2024
Dan Withey
"Nature Bridge" by Dan Withey delves into the intricate interactions between humans and intelligent avian species, challenging notions of human supremacy and emphasizing mutual communication across species boundaries. The exhibition serves as a poignant reflection on humanity's disconnect from nature, highlighting our tendency to construct laws and views based solely on human perspectives, often neglecting the profound impact on the world around us. Through introspective exploration, viewers are invited to reconsider their place within the natural world, acknowledging the damaging consequences of our actions on other beings and ecosystems. By abandoning notions of human supremacy, "Nature Bridge" fosters empathy and encourages viewers to become active participants in the interconnected web of relationships that define our existence.
Benjamin Uno
Shingyo sketchbook 2000-2024: studies, bootlegs and remixes towards a complete s11 Heart Sutra
This exhibition is a survey of more than 20 years work on the Heart Sutra series, which was born of my direct experiences with police and state power at the s11 Protests at Crown Casino, Melbourne in September 2000.
From crowd photographs taken across the three days of protest, individual faces of people directly or indirectly involved were chosen at random to represent each of the characters (ideograms) of the Buddhist text known as Hannya Shingyo, the ‘Heart Sutra’.
In other words, instead of 274 characters, my version of the Heart Sutra has 274 faces.
Although I have previously created both photographic and calligraphic versions of the sutra, last year was the first time I had completed a hand-drawn/painted/written suite of all 274 portraits. The work, entitled 守り Protection, will be exhibited later this year. A commemorative book is also being published and will be available at that time.
This exhibition at Rubicon ARI is my third working with this ‘trans-substantiated’ text. It includes studies for 守り Protection, related works not included in previous shows, and earlier works from my archive showing the origins of my approach to image construction and meaning.
Kat Vonic
Otherworld is a series of abstract images with organic details that mimic the natural world. The gallery acts as a liminal space offering glimpses into otherworldly landscapes, inviting viewers to consider themes of fantasy and unreality as a way of interacting and coping with the real.
The work is influenced by cosmic, ‘New Weird’ fiction and its capacity to explore our connection to the natural world and anxieties around massive events such as climate change and species extinction, with narratives often rejecting a nature-human divide and moving toward a less human-centric worldview.
Kat is an emerging artist based in Naarm/Melbourne, working with alternative photographic processes to reimagine the landscape. They completed their Bachelor of Creative Arts (Photography) in 2023.
February 21 - March 9, 2024
Kate Stewart
An immersive installation.
The poetic materialisation
of
instability,
precarity,
transience and dissonance.
Disparate materials
transformed
into an evolving language
of
eccentric
and misbehaving forms.
Renegotiating,
the way we see.
An interplay
between
20th century Minimalism,
quotidian life
and contemporary
embodied practice.
Kate Stewart (b.1968) is an artist based in Melbourne/Naarm. Her multi-disciplinary practice follows a poetic methodology informed by 20th century modernism, phenomenology, and the vitality that can be generated from material play. She has a Bachelor of Fine Arts (Painting) from VCA and is currently enrolled in the MFA program at RMIT. Her work has featured in multiple group shows and is in private collections around Australia.
Piper Tierney
“Sad sad tears of a STAR”, which represents safe and inner healing to Piper’s childhood. The eclectic compositions that hold a child-like sensibility, are reminiscent of day dreams. Confusion, chaos and uncertainty masked with playful energy. The playful experimentation of naive style painting and drawing invites the audience to visit their inner child.
Piper is a Boorloo based mixed-medium installation artist who shares a great appreciation of wood work, sculpture, drawing and finger painting. Piper holds a Bachelor of Fine Art at the University of Western Australia (2019), and a Masters in Art teaching (2023). Most of Piper’s work is heavily inspired by the absurdities of mundanity through painting. Her eclectic compositions have a child-like sensibility, reminiscent of a day dream. Her practise doesn't meander anywhere for too long, this evolutive quality demonstrates her commitment to challenging herself and the constraints of the mediums she works with. Piper’s work is underscored by phreneticenergy, Imbued with a nascent sense of humour, Piper's work doesn't take itself seriously. Perhaps that's the point.
Manasee Jog
The Kothalo project is a translocated, hybrid collaboration collective that ran from 2020-2023 with Sajnuben, Monghiben and Manasee collaborating to create a series of artifacts. This project is part of of Manasee Jog’s PhD, “Crafting the wandering self: Narratives of identity, agency, materiality”
In both collaborations, the forms of Rabari cultural and traditional artifacts are subverted to express more individual concepts. Monghi ben and Manasee created works that speak of identity, and visualising the process that they followed in this project. While with Sajnuben, works were created around creative process, travel + being a rural/urban nomad and what female energies represent.
Both the Rabari craft-artists are termed as collaborators, because they continue to be maker-partners in the true sense and are an integral part of the collaboration - creatively and conceptually. Through this instinctive and playful process, the three formed a collective, where every part of this project was a joint decision, from brainstorming, dialogue to cooperation. This included important creative decisions of form, function, colour, motif.
The three hope this project will advantage individual practices, culture and energies and push all three into a new direction of thought; reinforcing playful, embodied process and symbology into each of their ways of working.
Kothalo is also a callout and hopefully an inspiration to every Rabari artist to believe that her work is as mainstream as any other contemporary artist, has individual agency, and has potential to be exhibited as high art in galleries, world over.
This is a traveling exhibit that has completed its India edit before coming to Melbourne. The Melbourne exhibit celebrates the culmination of the project, which includes six pieces of collaborative artifacts that have traveled cities and countries, prior to completion. Enjoy this visual feast!
આર્ટિસ્ટ્સ: સજનુબેન રબારી, મોંઘીબેન રાબરી એન્ડ માનસિ જોગ
કોથાલો પ્રોજેક્ટ એક ટ્રાન્સલોકેટેડ, હાઇબ્રિડ સહયોગ સામૂહિક છે જે ૨૦૨૦-૨૦૨૩ દરમિયાન સજનુબેન, મોંઘીબેન અને માનસી સાથે કલાકૃતિઓની શ્રેણી બનાવવા માટે સહયોગથી ચાલ્યો હતો. આ પ્રોજેક્ટ માનસી જોગની પીએચડીનો એક ભાગ છે, "ક્રાફ્ટિંગ ધ વન્ડરિંગ સેલ્ફ: નેરેટિવ્સ ઑફ આઇડેન્ટિટી, એજન્સી, મટિરિયલ"
બંને સહયોગમાં, રબારી સાંસ્કૃતિક અને પરંપરાગત કલાકૃતિઓના સ્વરૂપોને વધુ વ્યક્તિગત ખ્યાલો વ્યક્ત કરવા માટે વિકૃત કરવામાં આવે છે. મોંઘી બેન અને માનસીએ એવી કૃતિઓ બનાવી છે જે ઓળખની વાત કરે છે અને આ પ્રોજેક્ટમાં તેઓએ અનુસરેલી પ્રક્રિયાને વિઝ્યુઅલાઈઝ કરે છે. સજનુબેન સાથે રહીને, સર્જનાત્મક પ્રક્રિયા, પ્રવાસ + ગ્રામીણ/શહેરી વિચરતી બનવું અને સ્ત્રી શક્તિઓ શું રજૂ કરે છે તેની આસપાસ કૃતિઓ બનાવવામાં આવી હતી.
બંને રબારી હસ્તકલા-કલાકારોને સહયોગી તરીકે ઓળખવામાં આવે છે, કારણ કે તેઓ સાચા અર્થમાં નિર્માતા-ભાગીદાર તરીકે ચાલુ રહે છે અને સહયોગનો અભિન્ન ભાગ છે - સર્જનાત્મક અને વૈચારિક રીતે. આ સહજ અને રમતિયાળ પ્રક્રિયા દ્વારા, ત્રણેએ એક સામૂહિક રચના કરી, જ્યાં આ પ્રોજેક્ટનો દરેક ભાગ વિચાર-મંથન, સંવાદથી લઈને સહકાર સુધીનો સંયુક્ત નિર્ણય હતો. આમાં ફોર્મ, ફંક્શન, કલર, મોટિફના મહત્વના સર્જનાત્મક નિર્ણયોનો સમાવેશ થતો હતો.
ત્રણેયને આશા છે કે આ પ્રોજેક્ટ વ્યક્તિગત વ્યવહાર, સંસ્કૃતિ અને શક્તિઓને લાભ આપશે અને ત્રણેયને વિચારની નવી દિશામાં ધકેલશે; રમતિયાળ, મૂર્ત પ્રક્રિયા અને પ્રતીકશાસ્ત્રને તેમની દરેક કાર્ય કરવાની રીતોમાં મજબૂત બનાવવું.
કોથલો એ એક કૉલઆઉટ પણ છે અને આશા છે કે દરેક રબારી કલાકારને એવું માનવા માટે પ્રેરણા મળે છે કે તેમનું કાર્ય અન્ય સમકાલીન કલાકાર જેટલું જ મુખ્ય પ્રવાહનું છે, વ્યક્તિગત એજન્સી ધરાવે છે અને વિશ્વભરની ગેલેરીઓમાં ઉચ્ચ કલા તરીકે પ્રદર્શિત થવાની સંભાવના ધરાવે છે.
આ એક પ્રવાસ પ્રદર્શન છે જેણે મેલબોર્ન આવતા પહેલા તેનું ભારત સંપાદન પૂર્ણ કર્યું છે. મેલબોર્ન એક્ઝિબિટ પ્રોજેક્ટની પરાકાષ્ઠાની ઉજવણી કરે છે, જેમાં પૂર્ણ થયા પહેલા શહેરો અને દેશોની મુસાફરી કરનારા સહયોગી કલાકૃતિઓના છ ટુકડાઓનો સમાવેશ થાય છે. આ દ્રશ્ય તહેવારનો આનંદ માણો!
January 31 - February 17, 2024
Jesse Avdeikov
The Leftovers is Avdeikov’s first project focused on abstraction, color and textures. The exhibition consists of a series of textile paintings made with hand embroidery and appliqué. The works are made out of recycled and leftover materials from his other projects. Jesse uses old clothes, textiles and sometimes other found objects such as pieces of old broken radio.
In his recent works he has been closely studying the relation of textile art and painting. Applying his knowledge and abilities as a painter to do embroidery and appliqué. That is why he refers to his textile works as “thread paintings”.
Jesse Avdeikov (b. 1986) earned his Master of Fine Arts degree from the Academy of Fine Arts of the University of the Arts Helsinki in June 2020. The exhibition is supported by Arts Promotion Centre Finland (Taike).
Harry Bayston
partytrap
heads high
bottoms up
down the hatches and in we go
OUT
flocks you sort of, not really, ish know
oh
we spent longer getting ready
and tomorrow’s even longer
today
partytrap
Harry Bayston (b.1994, UK) is a Naarm based artist who holds a Master of Fine Art with Distinction from RMIT (2022) and a Bachelor of Fine Art with Honours from UNSW AD (2017).
He has exhibited consistently since 2017 in Victoria and New South Wales with multiple solo and group exhibitions at both commercial and artist run galleries. His work is held in private and corporate collections across Australia and Europe, and has been commissioned for several murals, installations and publications.
Gala Jane
Gala Jane is a mixed-media artist exploring mental health through the use of text, found objects, textiles. Fine, thanks explores Gala’s personal journey in the days, weeks and years after the Lismore floods of 2022 hit, destroying her studio and devastating a community.
The exhibition delves into the aftermath of this natural disaster and shedding light on the challenges faced once the media and government pack up, leaving a town and individuals to figure it out.
Using voice recordings from this time with vibrant colours, found objects and tufted rugs she begins to break down her resilient facade. After nearly two years in the making these works have become part of Gala’s healing journey, culminating in a poignant and raw portrayal of her experience.
