TWO diverse exhibitions exploring the intersection between art and science, childhood daydreams and the spirit of jazz will open at the Riddoch Art Gallery on May 12.
No Surface Holds by Catherine Truman is an intriguing solo show of objects, installation, images and film including several brand new works, spanning the 20 years of Catherine’s research at the nexus of art and science.
“This exhibition will be the first time Catherine has presented her collaborative practice with artists and scientists as a whole,” Riddoch Art Gallery Director Dr Melentie Pandilovski said.
Ms Truman is one of South Australia’s leading contemporary artists and jewellers and was selected as the 2017 JamFactory Icon.
She is co-founder and current partner of Gray Street Workshop – an internationally renowned artist-run workshop established in 1985 in Adelaide.
She has exhibited widely both nationally and internationally and is represented in a number of major national and international collections.
“In South Australia, some of Catherine’s work is on permanent display on the facade of the David Jones building and the gates of the Art Gallery of South Australia, while in 2016 her carvings and jewellery were the subject of a major exhibition shown at Art Gallery of South Australia,” Dr Pandilovski said.
Immersing herself and her artwork in scientific fields, Truman describes her studio morphing into a laboratory of sorts.
Working among scientists and researchers and as an avid researcher herself, she says that she has come to realise the processes of science and art are not so dissimilar.
“As an artist I have learnt that making things with my hands leaves me with much less of a sense of dislocation from the world I live in – and I feel this is an interesting premise from which to examine the world of science,” Ms Truman said.
Ms Truman will be present at the exhibition opening and will talk about her work.
Murmuration by local artist Gina Raisin is a cosmic exploration based on childhood daydreams and the free-flowing spirit of jazz.
It follows Gina’s successful solo exhibition BARE and winning the Needham Religious Art prize in 2017.
Murmuration is a collection of new work, featuring the artist’s abstract expressionist style emboldened by an intense new palette.
“In these new paintings each brush stroke acts as a single unit made of many things; the vision of the object, the colour of interpretation, the structure and the dream, the essence of experience and reflection,” Ms Raisin said.
Ms Raisin’s moment of inspiration for this exhibition came in late 2017, when watching James Morrison Jazz Academy student Brittany Van Zeil perform her final year compositions at Morrison’s Jazz Club.
In a direct response to this moment Ms Raisin created two works, Britt’s Rondable and Geometry of Jazz, which speak directly to Brittany’s composition.
This exhibition also sees Ms Raisin collaborate with a curator for the first time – arts, culture and development officer Serena Wong has acted as the guiding hand in the process over the last 12 months.
“Gina is really at an exciting time in her career and her energy and passion for this show has been a real pleasure and I can’t wait for our community to see the results,” Ms Wong said.
Both exhibitions will be formally opened on May 12 at 4pm and will remain on display at the Riddoch Art Gallery until July 15.
