Sunday, August 19, 2012

Jackson Slattery

Currently living and working in Montreal, Jackson Slattery held his second solo exhibition at Sutton Gallery in August. 

Your current exhibition at Sutton Gallery in Melbourne, Wrong Formalism, is process driven; focusing on the surface of the painting and the formal composition of painting. Have you always been interested in exploring formalism? 
For this particular exhibition I really wanted to reduce my practice to its bare essentials.  My aim was to create a body of work that used formal elements to create a sense of time and narrative.  I'd recently read an interview with Gerhard Richter and the interviewer asked him whether it was possible to create an abstract work that dealt with narrative.  Whilst he cleverly evaded the question I really liked the idea of these binary elements somehow coming together.  From that point my intention was to find a common ground between my particular painting approach and formalism.
 

These works have an abstract quality that I have not seen in your previous watercolours. Can you tell us a little about how this project differs from previous shows?    
I figured that if I wanted to reduce time and narrative down then I'd have to erase subject matter.  I bought a couple of pieces of safety glass and carried them around with me for almost a year.  I chose safety glass specifically because I wanted to essentially erase the subject matter by using a semi-transparent glass and abstracting any objects which might be behind the glass. I also grabbed an fake Ikea rose to help establish formal compositions.  The choice of the rose was mainly arbitrary though it interested me to use such a romantic prop to create such specifically cold and emotionless "formalist" works.  My intention was to photograph those pieces of glass and the rose in all the countries that I visited that year.  As a result, I was left with images conveyed time only though formal suggestions, such as light, colour and composition. 


You have a sculptural practice that is not present in this current exhibition. Can you share with us your interest in sculpture and whether it has a direct relationship to your 2D practice or runs along side of it? 
For the last couple of years I've been making sculptural works to coincide with my 2D practice although for this show I really wanted to strip as much back as possible.  That meant both conceptually and physically.  I really wanted to see if the paintings could hold their own and not have to rely on 3D works.
 
 

You have been living in Montreal for the past few years, has this changed your practice?
It's difficult to gauge how Montreal has affected my practice.  Practically speaking, I don't have the extended support network that I had in Melbourne which is both good and bad.  It forces me to scrutinize my work more thoroughly than before because I can't as easily bounce my ideas off other people.



What has been the most exciting this you have see in art this year?
Alex Vivian, Campbell Patterson and Kieren Seymour are all making pretty incredible work.

What are you looking forward to in the next 12 months?
Next up are some group shows in Melbourne and Vienna, and then I'm off to New York at the beginning of 2013 for the ISCP residency.

All images courtesy Jackson Slattery and Sutton Gallery  

Thursday, August 2, 2012

Sean Crossley


Sean Crossley is an Australian artists currently living and working in Paris. He is part of the curated satellite art fair NotFair 2012.

Tell us a little about your practice.
My practice alternates between drawing, video and painting to explore and experiment with ideas of language, materialism and image making. I use my studio like a laboratory where I search for works through separating and fusing concepts and materials.

Trucforme
Oil on linen, 112 x 110 cms, 2012

Do you use models for your work or find inspiration from found material like images from web/magazine, ect?
I use quite a lot of source material, coming from photos that I find  or take sometimes, fashion magazines and books, film screenshots and Google. Anything is fair game. I like to change, mix and play with the images I work from. I used to use models and drawing from life, which I do often use for drawing and video works, but for the paintings I prefer to work from images. Sometimes I take diagrams and texts and put them into the work, which I might find in maps, medical journals or even Ikea handbooks. I also look at a lot of work at galleries and on the internet. Recently for the Notfair works it’s been Nabi painting, 19th century French neoclassical paintings, minimalist works and colour field paintings.

Carte rotation
Oil on linen, 100 x 91 cms, 2012

Do you find that the variety of mediums (painting, drawing, projection) allows you to investigate your interest in the body in different ways?
I kind of feel like my work is investigating language and materialism more than the body at the moment, but I think that will become a little more obvious in the next body of work. The body has played a big part in developing the ideas within my practice. I like working across video, drawing and painting as these three practices give me enough flexibility to interchange and develop certain ideas. Ideas and processes are exchanged between the media, they feed each other.


Partscreen
Oil on linen, 80 x 91 cms, 2012

How long have you been living in Paris and what bought you there?
I have only be living in Paris for about 6 months now, its quite new to me, then i had to fly back to Australia for this exhibition. I want to make my work in Europe and develop my practice there. There is so much art to see and work around, and also its great to think and make in different places with different people and languages.


Swatch couche #3
Oil on linen, 80 x 80 cms, 2012

What are you looking forward to in the next 12 months?
 Spending time developing a body of work in a new studio, going to Documenta in Germany, going back to summer in Paris next week!

NotFair


NotFair Primal Mutation
Co-curated by Melissa Amore, Sam Leach and Ashley Crawford

Established in 2010 as a satellite event to the Melbourne Art Fair, this years NotFair unveils works on paper, painting, sculpture and video from over 30 artists working all around Australia. Held in the alternative arts venue of 1000 £ Bend in Little Lonsdale Street, this years install Primal Mutation, will do anything but disappoint.  Celebrating sleek painting and evocative works on paper; this cluster of artists are exciting, fresh and above all supremely talented. Standouts are the ghostly watercolours by Bethany O’Donnell and expressive paintings by Sean Crossley.

1 – 5 August
1000 £ Bend
361 Lt Lonsdale Street
Melbourne 3000
Entry via Heape Ct

NotFair Installation shot

NotFair Installation shot

NotFair Installation shot

NotFair Installation shot

NotFair Installation shot

NotFair Installation shot