/2

/3

EXHIBITION PROGRAM 2014PLATFORM 2014JAN MANTON ART @ METRO ARTSGABRIELLE COURTENAY / MICHAEL DOOLAN / STEPHEN HART / MERETE MEGARRITY14 - 30 AUGUST 2014

www.metroarts.com.au

109 Edward St Brisbane Qld 4001 T (07) 3002 7100E info@metroarts.com.au

Find us on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram

Program Coordinator (Visual Art)Amy-Clare McCarthy

IMAGES

Cover Michael Doolan, Trickster, 2013.

1 / Stephen Hart, Ideation, 2014.

2 / Gabrielle Courtenay, Garden of Eden, 2014. Acrylic and vinyl on canvas.

3 / Merete Megarrity, Bush March (detail), 2014. Wood, wire, plaster, oil paint, fired clay, felt, rubber,

organic found objects.

VOTE OF THANKS

Jan Manton Art would like to thank Liz Burcham and staff of Metro Arts, Charlotte Tegan, Bruce Wolfe and the artists Stephen Hart, Merete Megarrity, Michael Doolan, Gabrielle Courtenay.

Platform 2014 is a partnership between Metro Arts and Jan Manton Art as part of Metro Arts’ annual program to showcase pieces from both leading and emerging artists.

PLATFORM 2014JAN MANTON ART @ METRO ARTS

PROJECT PARTNER

Metro Arts acknowledges the assistance of the Queensland Government through Arts Queensland.

METRO ARTS // EXHIBITION PROGRAM

/ 2

In the third instalment of the Platform series from Jan Manton Art, artists Michael Doolan, Stephen Hart, Gabrielle Courtenay and Merete Megarrity come together in an unlikely aesthetic combination of primarily sculptural works that showcase the links between’ the artists deeper observations of and explorations into the notions of cultural literacy and human understanding.

The selection of artists for Platform 2014 originally followed from the opportunity to exhibit large-scale works in the Metro Arts’ Gallery, but the exhibition has become a coherent, visually engaging experience. The selected works demonstrate each artist’s exploration into their own understanding of both the human condition and the broader concept of cultural literacy and communal interaction. While each artist engages in differing physical mediums and facets of human understanding and expression, the exhibition has a sense of cogent comprehension.

Melbourne artist Michael Doolan’s latest selection of works examine the literary fairy-tale, the narrative artform that we have witnessed evolving through various continents, eras and elaborations. Through reinterpreting the core motifs, images and characters via the exploration of various new forms, details and tones, Doolan presents intricate, visually striking three-dimensional ceramic and enamel sculptures that demonstrate new ways of both reading and decoding the traditional fairytale. Doolan’s works are at once both familiar and foreign, inciting a sense of immediate understanding and recognition at first glance, while simultaneously encouraging further thought on the slightly changed, exaggerated or newly-paired motifs from familiar fairytales such as Snow White.

Similarly to Doolan’s investigation of cultural motifs and collective readings, Sydney based artist Gabrielle Courtenay utilises culturally specific symbols to construct and arrange new narratives within her works. Courtenay’s paintings in Platform 2014 demonstrate a curiosity towards the idea of the mythical, juxtaposing symbols and scenery from the Australian environment, classic tales of mythology and astrological explorations to create subtly startling new works that delve further into the themes of connection and interaction.

/ 3/3

/1

PLATFORM 2014JAN MANTON ART @ METRO ARTS

Brisbane-based artist Merete Megarrity actively explores the notions of connection and interaction in her most recent, intricate series of works. Megarrity’s Bush March, 2014, utilises found objects from the Australian bush landscape to create a multi-layered, implicative work that at once highlights both the delicate and hardy nature of the Australian bush, illustrating the fragile dynamics of both our natural world and our environmental experiences. In a particularly pertinent representation of the fragile nature of creating work from found, organic materials, Megarrity offers the opportunity to have particular sculptures re-cast in bronze - the process of which destroys the original organic matter.

The final artist in the Platform 2014 selection is Brisbane-based sculptural artist Stephen Hart, whose most recent work continues his thematic investigation into the nature of the human condition and its relationship to the built and urban environments of Australia. Further developing the conceptual side of his figurative practice, Hart has directed his work along a more anonymous, less clinical, less traceable path. Introducing photo media to a large scale sculptural work for Platform 2014, Hart has created an unexpected new aesthetic - resulting in a visual engagement that is at once both rich and complex.

Together, these works engage on a conceptual level,exploring the shared ties within the notions of cultural literacy, the human condition and communal understanding and interpretation. Linked with social commentary on the contemporary interpretation of ideas and today’s issues, the artworks of Platform 2014 encourage thought and discussion.

CHARLOTTE TEGANCurator of Platform 2014