Roy Ananda, The Devourer

Roy Ananda, The Devourer

CACSA

Opening night 26^th April 6pm (with an Artist talk at 5:30pm)

Runs until the 26^th of May

The endless possibilities of the universe, and understandings of space and time are the subject of Roy Ananda’s latest exhibition ‘The Devourer’. The exhibition is part of CACSA’s Manifest series, featuring recipients of the Qantas Foundation encouragement of Australian Art Award, which Roy won in 2010. ‘The Devourer’ is a solo exhibition allowing Roy’s works to form intrusions into space within the multiple rooms of the gallery, echoing the structure of his sculptural works formed of numerous boxlike structures.

The works are as much about inner-head-space as they are about outer-space, and are heavy with science fiction references. American pulp writer H P Lovecraft has been a major influence on Roy’s practice. Within ‘The Devourer’ Roy draws on Lovecraft’s Sci-Fi subject matter, using different aesthetic techniques to explore ideas of space, dimension and the universe. Three-dimensional point perspective drawings show physical space receding into infinite galaxies and Escher-esque impossible loops, while a video shows an empty and alien landscape that appears to never end. In Roy’s signature boyish manner, he also discusses the culture that surrounds Sci-fi literature, where dice are used in roleplaying games and philosophical debates are carried out about the Cthulhu Mythos, a fictional universe.

Images  courtesy of the Artist and Dianne Tanzer Gallery + Projects

Text: Copyright Adele Sliuzas, originally published on The Thousands

Patrick Wundke

Suburban Camping Project

Patrick Wundke

Fontanelle Gallery

Opening Sunday 21^st April 6pm

Runs till 19^th May

In the last few years there has been a real turn towards social engagement within Australian art, shown through projects like Touchy Feely, and through the work of artists including Patrick Wundke. Socially aware and socially active art are really interesting, perhaps because they are kind of demanding; the viewer and their participation are central to the work.

Patrick Wundke examines social engagement through an art practice that takes the artwork directly to the viewer, to their backyard to be precise. The Suburban Camping Project uses the humble tent as a way of navigating the boundaries between private space and public place. As an artist, and a tourist, Wundke camps in stranger’s suburban backyards. Through approaching the members of the public, Wundke enters into a relationship that exposes the vulnerability and the generosity of the ‘other’.

In the gallery, the tent, sleeping bag and camping paraphernalia take on a performative role. The objects act on three levels: they take on a position of art objects within the gallery space and they stand in for the act of social engagement, part of which occurs in the suburban back yards. And, while the artist takes up residency, living in the gallery, they still retain their practical use as camping equipment.

Image: 'Camping Number 3', Patrick Wundke, 2012 courtesy of the Artist and Fontanelle Gallery

Text: Copyright Adele Sliuzas, originally published on The Thousands

The Tunnels

The Tunnels

Underneath the Adina Hotel on Victoria Square (entrance via the Adina Hotel courtyard).

When: 19th April – 2nd May 2013

Did you know that our city has a series of old, disused tunnels that once connected buildings across the city? I’ve always associated Adelaide’s ‘underground’ with sub-cultures and crusty punks, never once did I consider that we had a sub-terra network reminiscent of cities like Vienna.

The Tunnels is new visual art and performance space that makes use of Adelaide’s underground tunnels, exposing the underground as an exciting and unusual part of our city. Beneath the Adina Grand Hotel, the basement tunnels will be transformed into an unexpected venue. Artists have been asked to respond to themes derived from the context; Oxygen/Humility for the first exhibition, and Beneath/Roots for the second. The exhibitions run for two weeks each, and feature 32 exhibiting artists, and 28 performing artist. The artists involved in The Tunnels are all young and emerging artists from SA who work across a variety of artforms. The focus on performance art is really noteworthy, adding a dynamism to the exhibition experience.

Curated by the team at Artsake productions, The Tunnels present art as something that can be experienced. They make use of the unusual venue to build awareness of the encounter with the artworks and performances. 

Also check out the ABC News coverage here!

Text: Copyright Adele Sliuzas, originally published on The Thousands

Sally Smart

Sally Smart

Pedagogical Puppet Project

Greenaway Art Gallery

3^rd April until May 5th

The Pedagogical Puppet Project, showing at Greenaway Gallery, is a new body of work by artist Sally Smart, looking at deconstruction and reconstruction of ideas and images. Smart uses collage, but not in a primary school cut and paste kind of way, she somehow makes it no so kitsch. She produces large-scale wall installations; constructing a scene through an assortment of images, silk-screened fabrics, felt and pins. For this project, her practice has taken a turn towards performance works, and the use of puppets, which introduce the element of time.

Within the work Smart to takes on a Doctor Frankenstein role. She splices and constructs, stitching together bodies from disparate pieces. The characters are uneasy, mutated and unstable. For the Pedagogical Puppet Project, Smart has included a text element that sits alongside the collages within the tableau. They relate to pedagogy, the painted black walls reference schoolroom blackboards and the smell of chalk dust. These texts act in a similar way to the collage, they are constructed from stitching together ideas and, like the images, form a space that is uneasy and un-whole. By breaking things down Smart is able to reconsider and even re-inscribe concepts that are often considered fixed.

IMAGES

1. Sally Smart, Choreographing Collage/I Build My Time (detail), 2013, synthetic polymer paint on canvas with various collage elements, size and elements variable

2. Sally Smart, The Pedagogical Puppet Projects, installation view at Greenaway Art Gallery, 2013

3. Sally Smart, Choreographing Collage #1 (Pedagogical Puppet series), 2012, digital photograph, 65.5. x 65.5.cm, Ed 5 + 2 AP

All images courtesy the artist and Greenaway Art Gallery

TEXT:  Copyright Adele Sliuzas, originally published on the thousands