Kate Vassallo draws the line
Kate Vassallo’s Ripple marks the conclusion of Artereal Gallery’s exhibition program, as the Sydney gallery is closing its doors after nearly two decades.
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Addison Marshall, installation of glazed and unglazed ceramic, 2016. Image courtesy the artist and Chalk Horse Sydney. Photo: Ash Zombola.
Mitch Cairns, Draught (head of department), 2017, oil on linen, framed, 152 x 137cm, courtesy the artist and The Commercial, Sydney. Photo Sofia Freeman/The Commercial.
Mitch Cairns, Draught (game) (detail), 2017, oil on linen, framed, 152 x 137cm, courtesy the artist and The Commercial, Sydney. Photo Sofia Freeman/The Commercial.
Joan Ross, Colonial Grab, 2014 still from single-channel digital video animation, colour, sound. Image courtesy the artist and Michael Reid Sydney.
Joan Ross, Colonial Grab, 2014 still from single-channel digital video animation, colour, sound. Image courtesy the artist and Michael Reid Sydney.
Jumaadi, man-made what?…, 2017, gouache on cardboard, 25 cardboard cut-outs, dimensions variable, image courtesy the artist and the National Art School Gallery, Darlinghurst. Photo: Steven Cavanagh.
Jumaadi, man-made what?…, 2017, gouache on cardboard, 25 cardboard cut-outs, dimensions variable, image courtesy the artist and the National Art School Gallery, Darlinghurst. Photo: Steven Cavanagh.
Jumaadi, man-made what?…, 2017, gouache on cardboard, 25 cardboard cut-outs, dimensions variable, image courtesy the artist and the National Art School Gallery, Darlinghurst. Photo: Steven Cavanagh.
Justine Varga, Postimpression, 2017, C-type hand-printed photograph from 4 x 5 negative, 111.5 x 140cm. Image courtesy the artist and Hugo Michell Gallery, Adelaide.
Karla Dickens, Warrior woman XIII 2017, mixed media with fish hooks, dimensions variable, courtesy the artist and Andrew Baker Art Dealer, Brisbane.
Karla Dickens, Warrior woman II 2017, mixed media, dimensions variable, courtesy the artist and Andrew Baker Art Dealer, Brisbane.
Art school is a valuable period in many artists’ lives; it affords future creators the time and space to experiment, understand and refine their craft. Grounded: Contemporary Australian Art at the National Art School Gallery harks back to these formative years by bringing together eight Australian artists who began their art practice at NAS.
Encompassing almost every possible medium (painting, sculpture, installation, ceramics, video, photography and sketch books) the show features the work of NAS alumni Mitch Cairns, Karla Dickens, Newell Harry, Jumaadi, James Nguyen, Addison Marshall, Joan Ross and Justine Varga.
“The artists acknowledge the National Art School for providing a good grounding, hence the exhibition’s title, Grounded,” says Blackall. “What interests me in their work is their distinctive creative approaches, their commitment to their respective visual languages and highly accomplished practices. Although different, they each bring unique and courageous thinking to their work, original and experimental attitudes to art and culture.”
With such a variety of explorations on display, Blackall is able to draw upon common elements across the artists’ work. “Karla Dickens, Newell Harry, James Nguyen and Joan Ross broadly explore cultural dispossession and dislocation, history and identity, the impacts of colonisation and critique the behaviours of the dominant culture in Australia,” explains the curator.
Alongside these contributions sits the work of 2017 Archibald Prize winner Mitch Cairns, who has created a new series of paintings for Grounded. Meanwhile Justin Varga’s work steers away from conventional representation to evoke a personal visualisation of her lived experience and gained knowledge. Jumaadi also presents new work in the form of dream-like figures, derived from the traditions of Indonesian shadow puppetry. The artist’s work also references village art forms that resonate from his childhood in East Java.
Grounded: Contemporary Australian Art
National Art School Gallery
18 August – 14 October
Kate Vassallo’s Ripple marks the conclusion of Artereal Gallery’s exhibition program, as the Sydney gallery is closing its doors after nearly two decades.
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The intricate paintings of Nusra Latif Qureshi, now showing at the Art Gallery of New South Wales, remake and reroute imperial narratives and trace the borders of the shifting self.
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