june exhibition ::: kent wilson + catherine shields

The slippery lines that mark out boundaries between categories come under scrutiny in the two solo shows presented for June at Stockroom Gallery.

Kent Wilson constructs ambiguous instruments from stone and wood for his exhibition in Gallery One. Under banners charged with associations of collective representation, traditional materials are worked into symbolic totems that slide between forms of equipment, weapon and artifact. not dissimilar is an urgent embrace of earthly matter in the service of cultural engagement and open speculation.

Winner of the inaugural Stockroom Prize for Honours students at La Trobe University, Catherine Shields explores the cultural, legal and physical boundaries of geographic spaces for her exhibition in Gallery Two. In Relation to- is an investigation into territories of negotiation between the psychological, the sexual and the social. Using walking as process the artist attempts to recast memory into the static space of the gallery.

kent wilson - catherine shields from stockroom on Vimeo.

OPENING SATURDAY 08 JUNE, 4:30 - 7pm at stockroom
08 June to 07 July 2013

Music by - Atoms for Peace

May Exhibition - Gallery 2 ::: Alexandre Prado

'The Smallest of Things'

A video prieview of Alexandre's exhibition.

Enjoy!




stockroom May exhibition ::: Alexandre Prado from stockroom on Vimeo.


Exhibition runs until 02 June 2013.

Rhett D'Costa - The Shimmer Trilogy - Hit or Shit?

So those of you who follow the stockroom blog will remember me bravely asking Rhett D'Costa how, in his series of three exhibitions, he is going to avoid the third being shit like Mad Max 3 Beyond Thunderdome.

You can see the whole interview here.
http://stockroomonpiper.blogspot.com.au/2013/04/how-to-avoid-shit-sequil.html

We thought it would only be fair to post some shots from his final installment at Switchback Gallery, Monash University, Gippsland. It runs till 17th May 2013.

What do you think?  Hit or Shit?

The show running concurrently at Stockroom is on until 5th May 2013.

Rhett D' Costa 'Shimmering Spaces: Exhibition 2' ::: Fran Van Riemsdyk 'Daily'

::: 13 April to 05 May 2013 :::




Stockroom is excited and honoured to the present the work of two highly regarded Australian artists who produce art imbued with ideas and presented with a captivating visual clarity.
Rhett D’Costa employs a range of strategies including humour and irony in his investigation into issues of authenticity and belonging. Part of an ambitious and richly researched body of work, a series of four projects is presented that explore the nuances of cultural identity. The inclusion of photography, sculpture and video provides for a visually captivating meditation on his research. Rhett reflects a heritage of understanding our place in the present through an understanding of the presence of heritage in our place.
From the loops of place to the loops of time, Fran van Riemsdyk plays with the predicable and linear sequence of time and invites the viewer to play along too. Allowing for a random interplay of behaviour, object and idea creates unforeseen connections across moments of daily life. Fran has worked fragments of time into rolling representations, illuminating both the systematic nature of time itself and its malleability.
The music you hear is by Kyneton based experimental music duo, "Mount Macedon", who played live at the opening.

Here are some photos from the event.

 Rhett D'Costa and Fran Van Riemsdyk's exhibitions run until the 5th May 2013

Laila Marie Costa - Spirito Domesticus

Over the past couple of weeks Laila Marie Costa and I chucked a few questions and answers around, about her practice and exploring some ideas behind her show at Stockroom “Spirito Domesticus” in March 2013.

 

The show is an exploration of the notion of suburban domestic consumer behavior and human spirituality.  Installed in “12 Stations”, this exhibition celebrates overlooked patterns, materials and forms.  Laila Marie Costa’s work takes the discarded waste of a consumerist society and re-purposes it as art and design.  

As we seemed to get a little bogged down in the idea of detritus, I thought I would leave the email screen shot as an ode to extra shit we think we don’t need.  

 

I just hope Laila can sort it out for us. 

Laila Marie Costa
 "1_Uno" 2008 - 2013
   Silk screen print, mixed media, cotton thread
420mm x 297mm

studio shot courtesy of the artist

 

Laila Marie Costa. 

"2_Due" 2008-2013

Silk screan print, mixed media, cotton thread

420mm x 297mm

Laila Marie Costa's exhibition "Spirito Domesticus" opens on the 9th March and runs until the 7th April at Stockroom, gallery 2.

Interview by Jason Waterhouse

Neil Malone & Roman Liebach

Here is a little video we made, for those who have not seen the show yet.

Neil Malone - there/now/here/then
Roman Liebach - a matter of Matter

09 February - 03 March

Neil Malone review on Sub Machine

http://thesubmachine.wordpress.com/2013/02/09/neil-malone-feb-2013/

Words and images by Kent Wilson @ thesubmachine

Neil Malone, Feb 2013

Neil Malone, there/now/here/then

Stockroom Gallery, Kyneton; 9 February – 3 March 2013

The secret door, the hidden room, the entrance to the villain’s lair. Remember those movies where someone felt along the wall, looking for the right block of stone to push in? The stone that would depress and open up a whole new space in the house. Or castle. I’m so compelled to reach out and touch these highly haptic prints by Neil Malone that my mind turns instantly to that memory. The surface of the prints is rich in texture, complex in colouration. That idea of a portal release into another space, another dimension, rings true of all good art. Art should transport your mind and activate your central nervous system. Standing here, enveloped by Neil’s prints, my body wants to move to them, then into them. I feel their weight while knowing their lightness. My body measures them while my eyes sweep endlessly over them.
Arranged in large grid formations the works read as building blocks, as strings of data, or as pixels.  They are rhythmic visual poems, phrased and nuanced through patterned colour combinations and subtle internal shape variations. Like good language they usurp their supporting structure. As words on a page become visible realities inside your mind, freed from their typeset arrangements on paper, Neil’s prints free themselves from the wall. The grammar is abstracted like musical notation and the viewer is the conductor – seeking chordal combinations, finding refrains and a fermata for a pause.
Crack open each note though and you reveal a song. The unit is complex. Each pixel, each byte, is a packet of yet more data. Get up close and each print is a universe unto itself. Individuals reveal their identity in the crowded mass. Oscillating happily between the singular and the group it’s possible to pick up familial couplings. Cousined connections. Partners wave from within the crowd.
Layered and worked the prints are imbued with time and process. They are palimpsests of overwritten historical codes. Each print bears the weight of labour and poured application of the artist’s attention. And his intention. They are documents, as if a giant tome from a foreign culture laid bare for examination. All the pages laid in formation. This is information in formation. It’s DNA, software code and a colour score. It’s a feeling in your gut created by the fall of light on your eyes. It’s the urge to decipher puzzles couched in the willingness to surrender to beauty. It’s full and it’s embracing, and like a good symphony it’s been playing in my head since my first visit.

spanglish

another sneak peek of the upcoming show, SPAN ...
(watch in HD for extra crispiness)




(stroke of genius - the soundtrack is Spanish Galleon)

span

our end of year show, now a traditional event (can you say that after only the second one?), kicks off this Saturday.

again, we've received a large influx of entries, 100 in fact. some artists have entered more than one work (the maximum was 3), so we have a total of 150 artworks on display. there's photography, ceramics, collage, drawing, sculpture, painting, printmedia, videos and textiles.

last year we were mightily impressed by the quality of the works. this year has exceeded our expectations again, taking it up another notch in standard. there's nothing quite like this event anywhere in regional Victoria and it really highlights the talents we have across both rural and urban areas. there's a great mix of regional and city artists in the show, and a mix of renowned as well as emerging artists.

it all kicks off at 430pm, this Saturday the 8th December. Australian art luminary, Karen Woodbury (of the eponymous gallery), will be judging the prizes we have on offer. come on down - it's going to be huge!

to whet your appetite, here's a little snippet of but a tiny portion of the awesome work on display:

Rhett D'Costa

Jason Waterhouse

James Murnane

 Rod Gray

 Nicholas Ives

 Amelie Scalercio

energy and atmosphere

opening nights are always charged with a little bit of frenetic energy. the artists are nervous, exhausted and excited in equal measure. the supporting family and friends are full of admiration and pride. people mingle, meet and talk while glasses clink and cameras flash.

on a particularly lovely saturday afternoon in november a bustling crowd came in to check out the art of Eliza-Jane Gilchrist, Jason Hartcup and Darcey Bella Arnold. get an inside peak into the scenes with our little launch video below (and come along to the next one - it is going to be MASSIVE):

a lazy spring afternoon, opening three art shows