Jul 26, 2013

Stephen Hall's Exhibition

Artwork by Stephen Hall from his current exhibition. Click for a larger image.

Nepean Arts and  Design Centre's visual Arts teacher Stephen Hall has a solo exhibition on  at the moment at Sheffer Gallery, 38 Lander Street Darlington. The exhibition is on display until August 3, and the Gallery hours are Wednesday to Saturday 11am-6pm.

The opening of the exhibition was a great success, with many colleagues and students amongst the guests.

Here is Stephen's artist statement from the show:
Tigers Horses and 16th Century Men is the work of an artist who has been exhibiting for 30 years and has always been deeply interested in who humans are and what we do and why we do the thing we do.  This also brings into focus our relationship with, and the impact we have on planet earth itself and the other creatures we share it with.  Tigers hang on to existence, horses are the epitome of wild freedom but have been tamed and are now comparatively redundant and have been unwittingly implicit in mankind’s journey.  Pointy bearded men in ruffs seem to be a relic irreconcilable with our current understanding of life. I believe these three to be the perfect protagonists to be given a chance to talk about what the hell mankind is on about today. Narratives as well as figurative forms alter and breakdown only to rebuild and reform never admitting to an absolute truth.
The exhibition includes a three meter painting painted while watching a documentary about tiger cubs trying to survive in the simplest way where everything is about the essentials of life as well as six ceramic sculptures that lurch from one form to another restlessly morphing; a figure that might appear to be human or a horse at first glance but is quickly revealed as a hybrid form struggling to assert its existence. The final part of the exhibition is a series of twenty seven ink drawings depicting tigers, horses and 16th century men and covers many aspects of transformation, relationships and how stupid humans can be especially when we think we know what we are doing, while some are just simply playful.
                                                                                                                                            - Stephen Hall, 2013

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