Fire Monkey Studio:

A South Australia & Shandong Preview Exhibition

Artists: David Reid Gus Clutterbuck Jess Dare Damien Shen Cristina Tridente Gerry King 57 Films

Kerry Packer Civic Gallery Exhibition

Exhibition dates: Wednesday 3 February - Friday 11 March

Gallery open Monday - Friday 9am - 5pm (Thursdays until 7pm)
Hawke Building level 3, UniSA City West campus, 55 North Terrace, Adelaide

In February 2016 to coincide with Chinese New Year and to celebrate the 30th Anniversary of the SA and Shandong Sister State Relationship, this exhibition will preview and celebrate the launch of a new residency project for artists and creatives in Qingdao, China.

The Residency aims to embrace and further develop the creative, cultural and commercial links between SA and Shandong Province, by providing selected artists an exciting creative space to engage with Chinese art, history, and culture.

The exhibition has been produced by the Australia China Development Company and Gus Clutterbuck Art & Design, and supported and presented by the Kerry Packer Civic Gallery at The Bob Hawke Prime Ministerial Centre. It will present the work of Australian artists working across the genres of contemporary art, fashion and film, in a dynamic collection of works that indicate the possibilities of this new space.

The artists were all invited on the basis of the high quality and innovation of their work as well as their proven commitment to engaging with China through residencies and exchange. The Australia China Development Company has influenced and been involved in the growth and diversification of the Shandong-South Australia relationship.

ARTISTS:
David Reid is an Australian artist based in Shanghai who has been influenced by his life in Shanghai and travels around China. His observations and thinking about Chinese culture are informed by a lifelong study of eastern and western art. His mediums include ink on xuan paper, oil on canvas, as well as woodcuts, and he has also made porcelain works in Jingdezhen, the China of China. David was the first Australian artist to have a solo exhibition in a Chinese Museum, Wuxi Museum.  Highlights in 2015 include a solo exhibition in Vienna, artist talks in Zurich and Dusseldorf and Yu China Gallery, Shanghai.

Gus Clutterbuck’s works on paper and sculptural porcelain objects explore metaphorical notions of journey and landscape across cultures. He works from found objects collected in Central Australia and imagery drawn from antique Chinese pottery shards, melding autobiographical experiences of family and country with myth and landscape. After an Asialink residency (2014) at The Pottery Workshop, Jingdezhen, he held his first successful solo exhibition in 2015 at MEOU Art, Shanghai, accompanied by a book covering 10 years of his work.

Jess Dare is a contemporary Jeweller and partner of Gray Street Workshop, Adelaide. Her highly distinctive pieces incorporate the traditional hot glass technique of lampworking and reflect a sense of wonder in the miniature of the natural world, plants and flowers. She undertook an Asialink Residency in 2014 in Bangkok, Thailand researching traditional floral garlands (Phuang Malai), and in 2015 a residency in Shanghai China, teaching workshops and researching Chinese culture.

Damien Shen is a South Australian man of Ngarrindjeri and Chinese descent. As an artist he draws on both of these powerful cultural influences to create works of intense personal meaning. In using his artistic talent to share his story he aims to open the eyes of viewers to new ways of seeing Australian identity and Aboriginal art. Damien produces drawings, prints, paintings and photographs with rigour, intensity and liveliness.

Cristina Tridente presented her handmade beautifully detailed couture wear collection ‘Silk Road’ at the Qingdao Fashion Festival in 2015 and will return in 2016 with ‘Lady Camelia’. An appreciation of China fabrics sourced over many years has led to the success of her label ‘Couture+Love+Madness’ in China.

Gerry King is an artist and designer specializing in contemporary glass. His work is exhibited, collected and published internationally and held in some twenty public collections worldwide. Originally trained as a glassblower he now works with a wide variety of techniques.  His works often have an underlying socio-political commentary.  King first worked with glass while undertaking postgraduate studies at Alfred University in the USA during the early 1970s.  He holds a variety of academic awards in art and education culminating in a Doctor of Creative Arts from the University of Wollongong awarded in 1993.  In the 1980's he was instrumental in the development of the Glass Studies course at the University of South Australia. In 2015 he was Curator of the topic, 'Contemporary Glass in China' at the Ausglass Conference in Adelaide and while in China was a Workshop Leader at Tsinghua University, Beijing and lectured at Qin Huang Dao Glass Museum and the China Academy of Art, Hang Zhou.

57 Films is an Adelaide based film production company. In 2015, 57 films and Qingdao Television (QTV) signed an MOU and discussions began regarding the airing of South Australian film content on Qingdao television networks. Current major projects by 57 Films include a documentary on the thirty year relationship between Shandong and South Australia, and a chef exchange television program which will serve to promote local food, produce, cuisine and tourism for both South Australia and Qingdao.

While the views presented by speakers within the Hawke Centre public program are their own and are not necessarily those of either the University of South Australia or The Hawke Centre, they are presented in the interest of open debate and discussion in the community and reflect our themes of: strengthening our democracy - valuing our diversity - and building our future.

The copying and reproduction of any transcripts within the Hawke Centre public program is strictly forbidden without prior arrangements.