vivonne thwaites
curator

 

 

chris de rosa


 

artwork
2010 Linolace (working title)
Digital inkjet print, pigment stain. Perforated Magnani paper and lino.
91cm(w) x 43cm(h) Work in progress.

 

artwork
Liminal. 2010
Inkjet print,photopolymer etching,pigment stain. Magnani paper and lino.
Unique state. Size- 230cm(w)x 350cm(h)

 

artwork
Sealace (working title) 2010
Digital inkjet print, pigment stain. Perforated Magnani paper and lino.
91cm(w) x 65cm(h) Work in progress.

view 2010 artworks

Yes, press my eyelids close, 'tis well,

Yes, press my eyelids close,
'tis well,
—But far the rapid fancies fly

The rolling worlds of wave and shell,

—And all the lands where corals lie.

Whilst working on seaweed based prints last year I began listening to “Where Corals Lie” a piece of music by Elgar which overlays the poem of the same name by Richard Garnett wherein the singer is seduced away from mortal love by the pervasive lure of the sea (the “land where corals lie” is, of course, beneath the waves). I played the one song over and over, ad- infinitum at deafening levels. The themes of the work overlapped with earlier interests in the notion of calenture (the state where seasick sailors in a fit of homesickness threw themselves into the sea).

There is also a legend which influenced the work in which a young Venetian seafarer called Polo brought his beloved Dolfina a stalk of seaweed from the far, distant seas. The weed was truly wonderful, frayed, hole-ridden and encrusted with marine salt .It seemed as though it had been fashioned by the sirens. When Dolfina saw it she was concerned at the marvellous seaweed’s fragility. To preserve its beauty, she took a needle and thread and painstakingly copied it, tracing out the seaweed's design until it became lace.

Having been collecting seaweed from our local shores for it’s aesthetic (and Gothic) qualities for quite some time. Its otherness intrigues me. Those sea changes do indeed turn it into things rich and strange; be it tree-forms or indeed lace.

Although the beauty of the seaweed itself should ideally be preserved, it is the transformation that occurs from under to above sea that interests me: a kind of reverse sea change (from "something rich and strange".) My print processes echoes those transformations. Current work continues to follow these themes along with the kind of sea changes that occur underwater. I am interested in the way the music of Elgar’s piece and Garrett’s poem are constructed and intertwined each to serve the other.


 

chris de rosa - cv

Education
1992 Diploma of Art North Adelaide School of Art (NASA), SA.
1989 Certificate in Art, Jewellery and Printmaking, NASA, SA.
1988 Diploma of Applied Science (Nursing Studies) Sturt College, SA.
 
Professional experience
2010 - Arts SA, Visual art, craft, and design peer assessment panel
2008 Yarnballa Cultural Festival, printing workshops for Pt. Augusta Aboriginal Artists
2007 Willaston Baby Memorial, Gawler Council, SA. Public Art Commission
  Mulch Art, Adelaide City Council, SA.
2001 Edible Roots, Coordinate Adelaide Central Market Community Art Project
1998 Conducted solar plate workshop for SA Country Arts Trust, Anangu Pitjantjatjara Land communities
1995/2001  Member of the SA. Print Workshop, Adelaide
 
Solo exhibitions
2008 Seagarden, Helen Stephens Gallery, Sydney
2007 Due, SOMA Gallery, Adelaide
2005 Thingscapes, Adelaide Central Gallery 2, Adelaide
2002 Panacea, Promenade Gallery, Flinders Medical Centre, Adelaide
1992 Try it for yourself, Garlic at the Ex, Adelaide
 
Selected Group exhibitions
2010 Littoral, Carnegie Gallery, Hobart & Burnie Arts & Function Centre, Tas., Come on Spring,Dog Dragon & Southseas Books, Pt. Elliot, SA.
2009 Whyalla Art Prize, (selected) Middleback Theatre, SA. Artroom5 Henley Beach SA.
2008 Artroom5 Henley Beach, SA. Swan Hill Print & Drawing Award, (selected) Vic.
2007 Whyalla Art Prize, (selected) Middleback Theatre, S.A. Altered States, Wagga Wagga, N.S.W.
  By The Light of the Moon, Impressions on Paper Gallery, Canberra
  Fremantle Print Award, (selected) Fremantle Arts Centre, WA.
2006 Tamworth Fibre Textile Biennial, touring nationally, Swan Hill Print & Drawing Award, (selected) Vic. One, Drill Hall, Adelaide, Fremantle Print Award, (selected) Fremantle Arts Centre, W.A. Calenture, Light Square Gallery, AC Arts, Adelaide
2005 Trellis, Lucia’s, SALA Week, Adelaide
2004 Universal Gallery, Adelaide Festival of Arts, Adelaide, Swan Hill Print & Drawing Award, (selected) Vic.
  Drawing Today, Central Gallery, Adelaide, touring regional SA. (SACAT)
  Open Borders, Fleurieu Peninsula Biennale, McLaren Vale, touring regional SA. (SACAT)
  Fremantle Print Award, (selected) Fremantle Arts Centre, WA.
  Whyalla Art Prize, (selected) Middleback Theatre Whyalla, SA.
2003 Distant Voices, RMIT Gallery, Vic.
2002 SALA, Dog Dragon, Pt Elliot, SA. Fremantle Print Award, (selected) Fremantle Arts Centre, WA.
2001 Whyalla Art Prize, (selected) Middleback Theatre Whyalla, SA.
2000 Karra / Karrawirraparri, Art Space, Adelaide Festival Centre, Adelaide (Adelaide Festival 2000)
 
Collections
2009 National Gallery of Australia, ACT.
2008 Swan Hill Regional Gallery, Vic. Charles Darwin University, NT.
2004 Scott Hicks, Private collection.
   
Awards
2112 top prize at the Print and Drawing Acquisitive Awards at the Swan Hill Regional Art Gallery

 

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