Peter Alwast, Gathering, 2021. 155x155cm. oil and distemper on linen, courtesy of the artist and Gallery9, Sydney.
OPENING EVENT Wednesday 5 May from 6:00pm at ANCA Gallery. Free to attend, no bookings required.
One or Two Paintings is the premise of the exhibition at ANCA by Peter Alwast, Joel Arthur, Riley Beaumont, Rowan Kane and Dionisia Salas, each displaying one or two recent works. Each artist is a current ANCA studio resident and because of their close proximity, underscored by the lockdowns over 2020, a deeper conversation about their processes of painting lead to this show. Exhibiting one or two of their recent works together allows the chance to generate a visual discussion of ideas between them as painters to be presented to a broader audience.
The foremost conversation between their paintings is the abstraction of subject, the honed attention to surface, and each individual’s material delivery and sensibility. Figuration and subject dips in and out of focus for each artist and what stands as the resounding concern is the treatment of the surface and the subversion of description in one mode or another. All have their own logic systems which are continually undone and found again in the process of image making.
Peter Alwast is currently the Head of Painting at The ANU School of Art and Design. He holds a Masters of Fine Arts from Parsons School of Design in New York and received his PhD in 2018 at Art and Design UNSW, Sydney.
Joel Arthur graduated from ANU School of Art with a Bachelor of Visual Arts Honours in painting in 2014. He has been held in numerous shows in Canberra and interstate including galleries such as Perth Institute of Contemporary Art, Watters Gallery, Brenda May and Drill Hall Gallery. His work is held in collections such as the ANU, Bradley Allen Love, James and Jacqui Erskine and KPMG.
Riley Beaumont graduated from ANU School of Art with a Bachelor of Visual Arts Honours in painting in 2016. His work is exhibited regularly in Canberra and interstate and is held in numerous collections throughout Australia, United States, and China. He is represented by TWFineArt.
Rowan Kane graduated from the ANU School of Art with a Bachelor of Visual Arts Honours in painting in 2015. His work celebrates kitch and cynically critiques the human condition through provocative narratives, psychological landscapes, and themes of love and loss. He has exhibited throughout Canberra and New South Wales and his work is held in private collections in Australia, New Zealand, Japan and Los Angeles.
Dionisia Salas spent her early life living in Alice Springs, Dubbo, Botswana and Newcastle before arriving in Canberra to study at the ANU School of Art and Design, graduating in 2007. Salas’ recent exhibitions include Pavillion am Milchof in Berlin, Sutton Gallery in Melbourne, Watters Gallery in Sydney, and numerous exhibitions in Canberra.
Joel Arthur | Peter Alwast | Riley Beaumont | Rowan Kane | Dionisia Salas