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29 july -15 august 2009
opening night drinks wednesday 29 july 6-8pm
Tea Tree Swimming
Sara McPherson's recent paintings transform seemingly familiar landscapes and environments into theatres of anticipation. In this world, everything is bigger or smaller than it seems - soft toys roam through strangely lit paddocks; huge shadows fall eerily across fields dotted by tiny telegraph poles and fence lines. Scale, light and narrative are manipulated to offer glimpses of moments only half remembered; scenes tinted with the patina of nostalgia. These are images of spaces poised in anticipation of the unknown.
After completing her Bachelor of Arts at RMIT, Sara has worked as a scenic artist for national and international theatre productions. More recently, her practice has included public and community art projects, murals, and arts residencies.
The Goddess, The Sentinel and the Lady
This exhibition of recent etchings, drawings, lino prints and lithographs revolves around three archetypal characters: the Goddess, the Sentinel, and the Lady. Symbols of myth, longing and protection, for Libby Letcher these figures are also vehicles for thinking through the processes of lived experiences and the patterns that emerge.
As Letcher notes, the works aim to question how 'culture, driven by forces of desire and reiterated habits, extracts from the amorphous mass of cosmic energy the objects to satisfy.' Featuring bold line work and striking textures, Letcher's compositions present poetic allegories on the nature of contemporary desire.
Libby Letcher has been regularly exhibiting in Australia for over a decade. This is her second exhibition at red gallery.
The Comfort of Being Solid
Tania Virgona's new works explore ideas of the 'known' and 'the solid' in times of uncertainty. Constructed primarily from red woollen blankets, Virgona's wall-mounted compositions initially call up associations of warmth, security and comfort. Simultaneously, however, Virgona introduces an element of doubt into these images, as the shapes of the material appear also as silhouettes or shadows suspended in negative space.
The Comfort of Being Solid continues Virgona's investigation into notions of duality and the interconnections between related yet distinct forms. In Virgona's words, these images 'look to explore the inner reality of being as a solid and an accountable experience. Here the inner and outer meet in the world of solid forms, a step into the world of recognisable matter.'
Tania Virgona is a visual artist who works across the fields of sculpture, site-specific installation, drawing and public art. She has held numerous group and solo exhibitions, and her works are held in several public and private collections in Australia.
