'World Series' is inspired by the stereoscopic photographic cards from the early 20th Century of the same name that enabled people to experience the world in 3D. These artworks are from personal photographs from international locations, including a recent month in Paris. Moments as hand-rendered woodcuts simultaneously reference history, a search for meaning and the impermanence of a particular point in time. These images are meditations on the present and the potential for a moment to be repeated or replicated.
The exhibition World Series was a collaboration with painter Kate Stevens and exhibited at M16 Gallery, Griffith ACT in 2015.
Photo documentation: Kelly Sturgiss
'Here & There' was a joint show with Julian Laffan and Surya Bajracharya at Altenburg & Co. December, 2014. Surya responded to a recent visit to Kathmandu, his childhood home, while Julian responded to the town of Braidwood NSW where both artists live. Julian's images are all within walking distance from the artist's home. Both artists explore the immediacy of place and the language of the familiar.
Photo documentation: Kelly Sturgiss
Radio City was held at Altenburg & Co. Braidwood NSW over summer 2014/5. The images were made following a visit to New York and New Jersey in September 2014. The images take in moments observed in Manhattan, many from a single day of walking the streets and taking in the energy of the city, the lights and buildings. The momentum of a continually moving place are meditated as hand rendered moments edified in wood.
Photo documentation: Brenton McGeachie
'Shadows on the Plains' within The Triangle group exhibition, Canberra Contemporary Art Space, Gorman House, ACT. July, 2013. This work documents the Prme Ministers of the artist's lifetime. During their terms, each politician's public identity dominate perceptions of Canberra and the works reflect on their passing presence as shadows. The influence of each political figure and their impact on Canberra and Australia is reflected in iconic and recognisable moments, such as Gough Whitlam with the megaphone, Bob Hawke's jacket and Kevin Rudd's return.
See: https://canberracontemporaryartspace.wordpress.com/2013/06/27/the-triangle-resurrection/
Exhibition photos courtesy of Alexander Boynes, CCASS.
Photo credit: Alexander Boynes
This work investigates the development of the city of Canberra.
It is made up of cutting tools specifically for the Fitter's hall in Kingston ACT. The work pays homage to the building and the workers, as a site where tools were made and machinery was oiled and repaired. The shapes are sourced from objects in my neighbour, Reg Silvester's, shed, who is a traditionally trained fitter and turner, also from books of traditional tools. I have replicated the cutting tools in laminated ply and cut images into the surface of the wood. The cutting edge of the tools is connected to the carefully carved and modified landscape of Canberra. The ply references the layers of history that existed geologically, in pre-history and recorded developments over time. The work is made up of cut timber forms assembled together in a group similar to that of a shadow board in a workshop.
Historically, makers have made their own tools to last them a life time and these tools were often carved with initials or motifs meaningful to the maker or family group. The carving of decoration onto fully functioning tools is a practice that can be observed in Ancient Rome and Egypt. I am referencing tools found from the 16th century onwards in Western Europe, Scandanavia, Japan, India and Indigenous Australia, which have been marked or engraved. The markings vary enormously, incorporating themes such as trees, astrology and animals, see Walker (1984)*.
The function of the tools is for cutting, and this action is directly referenced on the cut surface of the objects. As the objects are replicated in timber, the original is lost but reactivated in the present as a form containing contemporary ideas. 'The City of the Future' references historical images from significant developmental periods in Canberra's formation, sourced from archives, as well as personal photographs, drawings and from memory. The layered ply is linked to archaeological and geological layers and information that is gained through techniques, such as core sampling.
The work as a whole is continuosly developing and changeable. In its arrangement infinite formations are possible, operating as a meticulously hand cut machine. Further elements can be included, similar to the continuing changing face of a City of the Future.
* Walker, P. (1984) Decorated and Dated Tools. In Proudfoot, C. and P. Walker Woodworking Tools. Phaidon Christie's, Oxford.
See: http://www.museumsandgalleries.act.gov.au/slideshow/imitation_of_life.html
Photo documentation: Kelly Sturgiss
This was a commissioned exhibition within the Paydirt Eatery restaurant in Braidwood, NSW. The name of the restaurant is in reference to Braidwood's historic past as a mining town in the mid-19th Century. Detailed woodblocks reference Braidwood's connection with Chinese-born residents during this mining boom and features flora and fauna surrounding the historic town. The Chinese aesthetic and cultural relationship with food is referenced within the works.
Photo documentation: Kelly Sturgiss
The series of woodcuts and objects present images that are edified and unified by the process of carving created with reference to viewfinders such as stereoscopes, surveying equipment, film and photography. The viewer is able to navigate through the collection and draw conclusions similar to that of an archaeologist sifting through a dig, unleashing questions related to history and identity in the contemporary world.
The series, 'Ways of Seeing' documents artists who influenced the artist and ideas and thought in the 20th Century. Each woodblock has been cut in an effort to interpret their character and to navigate an understanding of the artist as an individual.
Photo documentation: Kelly Sturgiss
The Fast and the Furious was exhibited at CCAS Manuka ACT following a Canberra Contemporary Artspace Residency. The exhibition title is appropriated from the popular culture film 'The Fast and the Furious' but explores the body in space and concepts relating to speed. The cutouts and images were from newspapers, junk mail and personal drawings. These were then hand drawn, cut and inked and shown as a series. The woodcut process represents them on equal terms in an egalitarian way negating hierarchies of meaning or importance.
Photo documentation: Brenton McGeachie
These works are a selection of pieces that were exhibited at Megalo Print Studio; The Front Gallery Lyneham and The Hive Gallery, Braddon, ACT. The figurative woodcut prints were in small editions of three, exploring ways images can be contained within other images. The black and white pieces are titled 'Kino Montage I and II'. These works question the ways information can be modified, connected or imply alternative meanings.