Gallery 9 is proud to present Making Sense, a new body of work by artist Peter Alwast. In this forthcoming series, Alwast reflects upon what it means to exist within, and make sense of, the social and political fragmentation of our current era. Making Sense includes paintings on hessian, as well as new media prints and collages, that recall historically opposed regimes of technological modernity. Although his work is fundamentally grounded in the present, it is also concerned with the tension that emerges out of aspiring towards a utopian, automated future and mourning an impending loss of community.
The paintings in this body of work are small-scale, intimate and without any technological mediation. Alwast makes use of invented imagery that is typical of the 'easel' tradition and is associated with the Nabis (a post-impressionist group of Parisian artists). His prints and collages deploy mechanical and technological new media production to render abstracted imagery, which is evocative of informational networks. In his works, the naïve exists in close proximity to signs of so-called technological sophistication and advancement. These disparate and distinct styles reflect our present, wherein populist revivals of an imaginary and idealised past jostle with a future-driven, technologically obsessed society.
Peter Alwast is a lecturer at The ANU School of Art and Design and currently Acting Head of The Painting Workshop. He holds a Masters of Fine Arts from Parsons School of Design in New York. He has held over 17 solo exhibitions and has been shown in group exhibitions at the Tate Modern (London), Museum of Old and New Art (Tasmania), the Greater Taipei Biennial, and the Australian Centre for Photography (Sydney), among others. Alwast's paintings, prints and videos are held in numerous public and private collections in Australia and the United States.
Press release courtesy Gallery 9.
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