Applications are now open for Going Solo 2016. Launched in 2014, Going Solo is a formalisation of Bendigo Art Gallery’s commitment to fostering and promoting the careers of regionally-based artists. A dedicated timeframe is set aside each year to showcase the work of an exemplary contemporary artist living and working locally, alongside significant national and international exhibitions.
Subscribe now for unlimited access.
$0/
(min cost $0)
or signup to continue reading
Going Solo provides one contemporary Australian artist in central Victoria the unique opportunity to work closely with gallery curators to produce a new work or body of works to be presented in a solo exhibition at Bendigo Art Gallery. Going Solo is an open call, giving artists, at any stage of their career, living and working anywhere in central Victoria the opportunity to submit an exhibition proposal.
The 2015 Going Solo artist is Karen Annett-Thomas. Her exhibition Out of Winter is now open.
Developed over the past year, Out of Winter presents a series of paintings extending upon Annett-Thomas’ ongoing interest in the process of memory and our attempts to bind it to material objects and written words. Combining a variety of media including beeswax, oil paint and plaster, Annett-Thomas builds up tactile layers on her canvases creating a dynamic sculptural surface echoing the local landscape that informs her work. Each layer of medium conceals or reveals abstracted imagery and text, which offer starting points for contemplation.
In describing her practice, Karen says, ‘time spent in the studio is simultaneously joyous and melancholic, as I grapple with the ephemeral and fluid nature of memory through the tactility and viscosity of paint.”
When asked about what the Going Solo opportunity has meant for her creative practice, she remarks “I am thrilled to have been given the support and trust of the gallery in the creation of this new body of work – and to be able to show it in the region it specifically relates to. It has been an exciting 12 months working intensely toward such a significant exhibition. I have greatly valued collaborating with the gallery curators and it’s amazing to see my work exhibited alongside the gallery’s permanent collection and temporary exhibitions.”
Karen grew up in western Victoria and in 2000 moved to Bendigo to study Painting and Drawing at La Trobe University. Over the following seven years she completed undergraduate, honours and PhD degrees in Visual Art. Since graduating, Karen has exhibited her work nationally and internationally. Karen is the second artist chosen to participate in Bendigo Art Gallery’s Going Solo initiative; a unique opportunity for a locally-based artist to work closely with gallery curators.
Out of Winter runs until February 21. Applications for Going Solo 2016 are due at Bendigo Art Gallery by 4pm Friday, January 22. For information visit www.bendigoartgallery.com.au/goingsolo