Event Venue
37 swanston
Jan Murray
Unseen continues Murray’s enduring exploration of the traditions of tromp l’oeil and investigation of the ‘anatomy’ of painting – specifically the relationship between the intrinsic and extrinsic architecture of the two dimensional canvas and the wall on which it is installed. Small paintings of air vent/grilles/chutes and similar architectural utilities are installed to masquerade as functional architectural elements throughout the Gallery and disappear into the white cube. These works are faithfully modelled on examples from various buildings throughout Melbourne including the Nicholas Building as well as those made in Berlin from a three-month residency at the Phasmid Studios in Marzahn (July-Sept 2017). This work alludes to the possibility of these functional elements not only enabling breath by means of ventilation or air circulation but sight and hearing as they function like ears – almost listening to the building. Perhaps too, they will operate metaphorically as eyes – allowing a glimpse into the past and the rich history embodied in the Nicholas Building – acting as conduits to hidden ‘realities’.
Jan Murray completed her postgraduate qualifications at the VCA and RMIT University. Since 1981 she has shown regularly in both solo and group exhibitions in public museums, commercial galleries and artist run initiatives. Her work has been included in national and international surveys of contemporary art in Australia, Germany, France, Italy and the USA, and is widely represented in significant Australian public collections as well as the Solomon R Guggenheim Museum and the Metropolitan Museum in New York. She has received an Australia Council Project Grant and her Australia Council Residencies include Kunstlerhaus Bethanien, Berlin, Via Farini, Milan the British School at Rome. Recent residencies include Phasmid Studios, Berlin in 2016-17. She is represented by Charles Nodrum Gallery, Melbourne.
Dr. Sean Lowry is a Melbourne-based artist and writer. He holds a PhD in Visual Arts from The University of Sydney, and is currently Head of Critical and Theoretical Studies in Art at Victorian College of the Arts, University of Melbourne. Lowry has exhibited and performed extensively both nationally and internationally, and his published writing appears in numerous journals and edited volumes. His conceptually driven practice employs strategies of concealment, subliminal quotation, erasure, remediation and intermedial expansion to explore the outermost limits of the world of a work of art. He is also Founder and Executive Director of Project Anywhere, and one half (with Ilmar Taimre) of The Ghosts of Nothing.
IMAGE | Jan Murray, Chute (Police Hospital), 2017, oil on linen, 23 x 28cm | Photo Shoufay Dertz| Courtesy of the artist.
Opening Night | Thursday 4 Oct, 6pm–8pm
Gallery Open | Tuesday-Saturday, 12pm-6pm
Closed on public holidays
