An exhibition on incising, folding and cutting paper.
Saturday 6 May, 4pm – 6pm
Precision: The Art of Cutting engages with the process of paper cutting as a medium, to transcend the folk tradition and aesthetically shift the practice into the realm of contemporary art.
At a time when climate change and the environment are central, this approach to a traditional, recyclable and renewable art medium is in itself a political statement.
For some artists, ecology and sustainability inform their work, for others it is secondary to an often cutting, critical engagement with the medium or other sociopolitical issues.
Artworks will include paper, photographs, installations and three-dimensional wall sculptures.
Curated by Stephanie Lindquist, with Minqi Gu.
Associated public programs for this exhibition, in association with Brisbane Art Design 2023 include:
A Papercutting Demonstration with Elysha Rei, Saturday, the 27th of May, 10am-1pm.
Chop Chop, a family-friendly paper cutting workshop with Pamela See (Xue Mei-Ling), Sunday, the 28th of May, 11am-1pm.
Harvest, a unique public artwork by Minqi Gu in collaboration with Brian Robinson, Saturday and Sunday, 27th-28th of May.
Feedback on this exhibition is welcome and encouraged, via this short survey.
Your time is appreciated and helps support future programming.
Image: Anna Carey. Everything you imagine is real (2022). Giclee Print. 100 x 88cm. Edition of 6 (Detail).
Anna Carey’s fascination with mid-twentieth century modernist beach architecture arose while growing up in Queensland’s Gold Coast, where she was exposed to such edifices for the first twenty-odd years of her life. Later travelling to Los Angeles and Las Vegas, Carey got to see many of the original buildings whose style had influenced Gold Coast architects of the 1950s and ‘60s.
To create her fastidiously constructed ‘… then’ photographs, Carey sources historical photographs of retro-styled architecture from the Internet for use as reference images. She uses these low-quality photos to design and roughly fabricate miniature models using flimsy materials such as paper and foam core. Carey photographs the intricately detailed models within cinematically-styled ‘sets’, which feature oversized photographs of real landscapes as their backgrounds to create whimsical, nostalgic dreamscapes of a disappearing past.
Probing the intersection of politics and ecology Nicola Moss’ works highlight the importance of green spaces amid congested urban environments. Through her installations, Moss engages people in considering the value of healthy environments by initiating communities in the discussion of local/global green space issues.
Nicola Moss has exhibited throughout Australia, and internationally. She was awarded the Moreton Bay Region Art Award (2012) and HOTA Gallery Commission (2020) and has been a finalist in numerous art prizes, including the Len Fox Painting Prize (2022), John Leslie Art Prize (2020), Fisher’s Ghost Art Award (2019), and the STILL: National Still Life Award (2019). Her work is held in private and public collections, including Bathurst Regional Art Gallery, Redland Art Gallery, and the Social Security Appeals Tribunal, Brisbane
Elysha Rei is a Japanese-Australian visual artist who works in paper cutting, installations and public art. Born in Saudi Arabia to Australian and Japanese parents, Rei and her family have lived in Thailand, New Zealand, Japan and Australia.
Her work draws upon her mixed heritage and transitions between places, cultures and communities, with a curiosity to examine her identity within a Japanese aesthetic. Rei’s work uses symbolic animals, plants and pattern within new environments, aiming to question notions of ‘tradition’ and attachment to ‘place’, while also researching site-specific narratives and history. Constant travel continues to inform Rei’s investigation into cultures and histories and her place within them.
Raised on Waiben and now Cairns-based, Brian Robinson has become known for his printmaking, sculpture and public art in which he uses a variety of techniques to produce bold, innovative and distinctive works.
Robinson’s ancestral lineage extends back to the Maluyligal people of Torres Strait and the Wuthathi people from Cape York Peninsula. His artworks present an intoxicating worldview. Graphic prints and contemporary sculptures read as episodes in an intriguing narrative, revealing the strong tradition of storytelling within his family and his community.
Robinson has contributed significantly to the built environment of numerous cities across the country through a number of major public art commissions since 1998 and his work has featured in many exhibitions nationally and internationally.
Pamela Mei Leng See is an Australian artist born of Chinese descent. She practices a contemporary form of papercutting, similar to traditional Chinese Foshan. Migration is a recurrent theme in her artworks, which range from intimately scaled artist books to monumental steel sculptures.
Since graduating from the Queensland College of Art in 1999, See has contributed to exhibitions across Australia, Asia, Europe and North America, including the National Gallery of Victoria and the Museo Gustavo de Maeztu in Spain. In 2007, she made her first appearance in the Beijing art scene, featuring in exhibitions at 798 Red Gate Gallery, NY Arts and the Pickled Art Centre. Her artwork is held in public collections, such as the Huaxia Papercutting Museum, National Gallery of Australia and Art Gallery of South Australia.
Martin Smith was awarded his doctorate from Griffith University in 2018 and is the First Year advisor for the Visual Arts Cluster and lecturer in Photography at the Queensland College of Art/Griffith University. His distinct style of photography incorporates stencil cut personal narratives against ambiguous, seemingly unrelated imagery, mirroring the disjuncture between language and visual texts.
His works have been exhibited internationally at the Hong Kong Art Fair, Photo Paris, Hous Projects in New York and Photo LA. In Australia, he has exhibited at the Museum of Old and New Art, the Museum of Contemporary Art and QAGOMA. His work is held in private and public collections including QAGOMA, Monash City Gallery and Artbank, among others. He has been awarded the Veolia Prize, the Clayton Utz Travelling Scholarship and the Prometheus Award.
Henri van Noordenburg was born in Amersfoort, The Netherlands, in 1967. During his early years he developed an interest in storytelling. Moving to Australia in 1991, he completed a Visual Arts and a Creative Writing degree at Griffith University from 1994 until 1999, followed by his Master’s in Photography and Theatre at Queensland University of Technology (QUT) 2003 -2005.
In 2010 Henri produced his first large-scale, hand carved on Photo Rag print a technique similar to the sgraffito process. This unique technique in combination with photography marked a significant change in his art practice.
Acknowledgements
Presented in partnership with BAD and Museum of Brisbane.
This project has received financial assistance from the Queensland Government through the Visual Arts and Craft Strategy, an initiative of the Australian, state and territory governments.
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Acknowledgement of Country
Metro Arts acknowledge the Jagera and Turrbal peoples, as the custodians of the land we work on, recognising their connection to land, waters and community. We honour the story-telling and art-making at the heart of First Nations’ cultures, and the enrichment it gives to the lives of all Australians.
Metro Arts accepts the invitation of the Uluru Statement from the Heart and supports a First Nations Voice to Parliament enshrined in the Australian Constitution.