Miranda Skoczek, Journey in Satchidananda, 2017, oil, acrylic and enamel on linen, 156cm x 140cm.
Miranda Skoczek, Shimmer, 2017, oil and acrylic on linen, 156 x 140 cm.
Miranda Skoczek, From the eyes to the stars, 2017, oil, acrylic and enamel on linen, 156cm x 140cm.
Miranda Skoczek’s abstract paintings evoke old walls with layers of forms and shapes that emerge over time. In her studio, she might work simultaneously on nine canvases. Transferring from one to the other, she allows each oil layer to dry before repeatedly painting over it until jewel-like colours resonate and a spatial sensibility has been established within which the viewer may dwell. Skoczek told Art Guide Australia,
In her exhibition of new work for Edwina Corlette Gallery, Rag Rugs and Lion Heads, she has made a shift to looser, more expressive works that are “minimal for me.” As her exhibition title suggests, these are inspired by tribal rag rugs created from any available material. The life force of kinship ties and traditions in these decorative works attracts Skoczek. “I want to emulate the feeling of cloth and textile, the emotion inherent in their materiality,” she says. Her other reference point is lions, particularly those in the art of Iran, as a touchstone of strength and personal power.
Skoczek’s own cultural heritage is eastern European (Polish, some Russian). While she was born in Australia, she explains, “The rich culture of textiles and traditional embroidery has always been present in my life. It’s innate.” In Shimmer, a wobbly horizon line divides the canvas in two. Within a predominantly green section above the line, soft pinks resonate both underneath and over the translucent green paint. Below the line are transparent colours, enigmatic shapes and a hint of graffiti mark-making. Their sensual textures, influences and colourful abstraction position these paintings as poetic visual essays.
Miranda Skoczek
Rag Rugs and Lion Heads
Edwina Corlette Gallery
14 November – 5 December
Blak In-Justice, now showing at Heide Museum of Modern Art, challenges the brutal systems that shape Indigenous incarceration in Australia—while charting the healing power of ancestral knowledge in the process.
Mungari, a landmark exhibition at Sydney’s Chau Chak Wing Museum, marks the return of the Gweagal spears to their ancestral country while speaking to the constellation of relationships that knit together people, objects and place.
Revealed: New and Emerging WA Aboriginal Artists is an annual celebratory exhibition of Aboriginal artists from across Western Australia. Now showing at Perth Institute of Contemporary Arts, the event has a community spirit and passion that grows each year.
In a new photography exhibition at the Immigration Museum, Nigerian-Australian photographer Dr Ayooluwatomiwa ‘Ibukun’ Oloruntoba is exploring what it means to be African-Australian, while highlighting the importance of culturally safe spaces for diasporic communities in Australia.
The finalist portraits in the biggest Australian art award of the year have been announced, alongside the winner of The Packing Room Prize: Abdul Abdullah for his portrait of fellow artist Jason Phu.
Curated by cross-disciplinary art collective KINK, the Institute of Modern Art’s You Are Here Too is an homage to–and expansion of–one of the most significant shows in the history of queer Australian art, thirty-three years on.
