vivonne thwaites
curator

 

 

ray harris

artwork

Bridid Noone, Ray Harris
Twin tears, 2011
collaborative oil painting spliced with HD digital video still
Image credit: Ray Harris

Ray Harris is not a middle-aged man as her name might suggest but an emerging Adelaide artist communicating her experiences, revelations and neuroses through mixed media sculpture, video performance and installation. The subject of her work is largely the psychological struggles and complexities of selfhood — identity dramas and disappointments, self-awareness and self-deceptions, and the relationship between reality and fantasy. Fascinated by mental spaces, she explores these issues through often-autobiographical interpretations of universal experiences and conditions. Ray is also a Visual Arts (Honours) graduate of South Australian School of Art 2009, a board member of Feltspace, Artist Run Initiative and a founding member of a peer based group studio space in Adelaide. She has exhibited locally at SASA gallery, Helpmann Graduate exhibition, CACSA Project space as well as Internationally in Rotterdam, Netherlands.

Ray Harris is undertaking a 6 week residency at the AEAF artist studios in August-September 2011. She is constructing work for her exhibition entitled Hold me Close and Let me Go which will be shown in the AEAF main gallery from 30 September - 29 October 2011.

Artist's statement:
Hold me Close and Let me Go explores the psychological space of unsatisfied symbiosis, the need for oneness lingering in hearts and psyches unremittingly. Like the small scratch on a saplings bark that grows to a big cut, these are the narcissistic wounds and scars, the yearnings and fantasies, the denials and re-creations and the inextricable knots that keep us tied to the ones we never had.

Ray Harris is a Masters (Research) candidate at the University of South Australia and recipient of the MF & MH Joyner Scholarship. She was awarded the Constance Gordon-Johnson Sculpture and Installation Prize 2010 (UniSA). In 2011 Ray will co-curate the AEAF's odradekaeaf. Ray has exhibited locally at SASA Gallery; the Helpmann Academy Graduate Exhibition; odradekaeaf; and had a solo show Come sail with me down Denial at Project Space, CACSA. She also exhibited at Next Wave Festival (Melbourne, 2010) and in 'Fantastic Borders' at Gil and Moti Homegallery, Rotterdam, Netherlands in 2009. Ray has been a co-director of FELTspace since 2010.


ray harris - cv

Education
   
2009 Honours( First Class) in Visual Arts, South Australian School of Art,
  University of South Australia.
2008 Bachelor of Visual Arts Sculpture, South Australian School of Art,
  University of South Australia.
1999 Advanced Media Arts Production Skills, Hamilton College
1998 Certificate IV Media Arts Production Skills, Hamilton College
   
Awards and Grants
2010 Helpmann Academy Grant and Arts SA Project Grant.
2009 Chancellor’s Letter of Commendation, University of South Australia.
2008 Chancellor’s Letter of Commendation, University of South Australia.
2007 Chancellor’s Letter of Commendation, University of South Australia.
2006 Chancellor’s Letter of Commendation, University of South Australia.
2001 Film Maker of the Future Encouragement Award,
  South Australian Film Corporation.
  Zoom MRC Craft Awards, Best Production Design.
 
International Exhibitions
   
2009 Fantastic Borders, Gil and Moti Homegallery, Rotterdam, Netherlands.
   
Solo Exhibitions
2011 AEAF - 30 Sept to 29 October 2011
2011 Untitled upcoming exhibition, Australian Experimental Art Foundation, Adelaide SA
2010 Come sail with me down Denial, CACSA Project Space, Adelaide, SA
  Fantastical Escapes: The big one, Stay with me, Seedling Art Space Pump Shed, Hawthorndene , SA
2008 So Close, So Far, Liverpool Street Gallery, Adelaide, SA
   
Group Exhibitions
   
2010 SALA Festival Moving Image Exhibition, Queens Theatre, Adelaide, SA
  As Above, So Below, Format Gallery, Adelaide, SA
  Odradekaeaf, Australian Experimental Art Foundation, Adelaide, SA
  Structural Integrity, Nextwave Festival, Arts House Meat Market Complex, Melbourne, Vic Heartlines, SASA Gallery, Adelaide, SA Helpmann Academy Graduate Exhibition, Drill Hall, Adelaide, SA
2009 Dot.Dot.Dot. Honours Graduate Exhibition, SASA Gallery, Adelaide, SA
  Performance Review Unit # 2, FELTSpace ARI, Adelaide, SA
2008 Freefall SASA Grad. Show Exhibition, Kaurna Building, University of South Australia, Adelaide, SA
  SALA Festival, Moving Image Exhibition, Queens Theatre, Adelaide, SA
  Art West, West End Shop Fronts, Adelaide, SA
  Six by Six, Queens Theatre, Adelaide, SA
2007 Light and Shadow,Arun kumar Hg Master Class Exhibition,
  South Australian School of Art, Adelaide, SA
  Really Good in Theory, Urtext Art Co-op, Adelaide, SA
  Meet and Greet, Downtown Artspace, Adelaide, SA
  Ultimo 4998, 80 Hindley St, Adelaide, SA
2006 Art West, West End Shop Fronts, Adelaide, SA
  Ultimo 5000, Chancellory Building, Adelaide, SA
2005 Really Good in Theory, Avalon Gallery, Adelaide, SA
  Avant Gardeners, Projections during performances, Jade Monkey, Adelaide, SA
2004 Avant Gardeners, Projection during Performance, Exeter Hotel, Adelaide, SA
2001 Stop/Frame Exhibition, New England Regional Art Museum, Armidale, NSW
   
Screenings
2010 State Library of South Australia U tube channel.
2003 - Multi Media Wall, State Library of South Australia, Adelaide, SA
2002 - 05 Eat Carpet, SBS Short film Television Program
2001 Zoom MRC Craft Awards, Mercury Cinema, Adelaide, SA
2001 Filmmaker of the Future Awards, Academy Cinema, Adelaide, SA
1999 MAPS Screening, Mercury Cinema, Adelaide, SA
   
Texts
2010 Sera Waters, 'Repetitive Crafting: the shared aesthetic of time in Australian contemporary art', Art Association of Australia and New Zealand (AAANZ) conference, Art Gallery of South Australia, University of Adelaide & University of South Australia.
   
Other Experience
2010- Commitee Memeber of FELTspace ARI, Adelaide, SA
2010 Founder of peerbased studios, Gresham st, Adelaide, SA
2007 Light and Shadow master class with SASA resident artist Arun kumar HG, Universisty of South Australia, Adelaide, SA
2004 Teacher/co-creator of stop motion animation class, Carclew school holiday program, Adelaide, SA

 

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