Despard Gallery is proud to be participating in the new experimental online arts platform Sydney Contemporary Presents 2020.
Dive into an unique online art buying experience that allows you to explore, discover and buy from unique contemporary artworks, all created in 2020. Rediscover our unique artists work through a curated selection of five of their best. Investing in an original work of art is always a memorable experience, so take the opportunity to mark a what will be a truly memorable year.
PATRICK HALL
Recognised internationally, Patrick Hall is one of Tasmania’s most notable artists and a permanent exhibition space at Museum of Old and New Art [MONA] since 2017. Hall studied at the University of Tasmania and has built a reputation for his uniquely idiosyncratic and emotive sculptural works that combine narrative prose, cabinetry, lighting, kinetic elements and sound recordings. Halls recent work questions religion, using found materials and LED lighting to create a space that subtly reveal secrets, longings and desires whilst exploring the passing of time and the slow erosion of belief.
Hall’s work has been featured numerous times at SOFA Chicago and New York, becoming the first non-American to be featured on the cover of the official catalogue in 2001. Hall’s work is held in private collections world-wide, as well as the Tasmanian Museum and Art Gallery, the MONA, the Powerhouse Museum and the National Gallery of Australia.
Of Fallen Angels
Click here to view more works by Patrick Hall.
JULIENNE HARRIS
Contemporary artist Julienne Harris uses paint intuitively, allowing its natural fluidity to guide the aesthetics of her work. Harris combines her many influences to visualise the subtleties of experience, memory and knowledge. Harris often works both inside and outside of the studio, employing methods of layering and erasure to capture a sense of time. On completion, each work acts as a record of this engagement, with only a residue of the intentional gestures remaining.
Harris studied at the National Art School, learning restoration and water gilding with Paul Levi and Bourlets. Exhibiting nationally since the 1980’s, Harris won the Adelaide Perry Drawing Prize in 2008, the Fleurieu Landscape Prize in 2011 and the Korea-Australia Arts Foundation Art Prize in 2019. Her work is held in numerous collections including Artbank, New England Regional Art Museum, Mosman Art Gallery and Hawkesbury Regional Art Gallery.
Ruby
Click here to view more works by Julienne Harris.
ANNE MORRISON
Anne Morrison’s practice is informed by travel, foreign landscapes, ancient cultures and her home and its surrounding landscape situated in the north west coast of Tasmania. Morrison challenges preconceptions of how we see and experience the world, employing a sensitive and nuanced approach to painting that reflects an intimate connection between body, land, personal experience and memory. Through the language of abstraction, Morrison explores the materiality of paint, guided by process and expression.
Morrison studied at the Glasgow School of Art, the Royal College of Art and was awarded a PhD from the University of Tasmania. Exhibiting professionally for over 30 years, Morrison was awarded the inaugural Tasmanian Women’s Art Prize 2019 and the TasArt, Burnie City Council Award 2012. Her work is held in private collections nationally, as well as the Tasmanian Museum and Art Gallery, Artbank, Royal College of Artand the Devonport Regional Gallery.
Small Worlds
Click here to view more works by Anne Morrison.
MICHAEL VALE
Contemporary artist Michael Vale offers us glimpses into a parallel universe, where time is elastic and the impossible become visible. Through gothic narratives Vale’s compositions become a passport to the vast variety of planets that make up the galaxy of painting. Vale sees his work as revealing the secrets of the universe, where ‘truth’ is found in power of humour and absurdity. Each painting ultimately designs itself, where compositions become populated with automatic imagery, including fragments from art history that collide with popular culture and Romantic landscapes.
Vale has been exhibiting professionally since 1986. He was awarded a PhD in Fine Art at Monash University, where is a senior lecturer. Vale won the Hutchins Art Prize in Hobart 2018 and the Bayside Art Prize 2017. He has been a finalist in the Archibald Prize on three occasions and recently shortlisted in the Arthur Guy Memorial Prize.
Strange Rain
Click here to view more works by Michael Vale.
GLEN CLARKE
Contemporary sculptor Glen Clarke draws from experiences living in Vientiane and Laos PDR, conducting research with UXO’s (UneXploded Ordnance) along the Ho Chi Minh Trail. Through intricate collage-based sculptures, Clarke explores the philosophies behind Animism and Buddhism, combining folded banknotes and cut-outs of military hardware. Elements are meticulously arranged to resemble mandalas, echoing spiritual symbols that signify infinity, harmony and wholeness. Works consider religion in contrast to global politics, each arrangement denoting the perilous balance between the profits, loss and hostilities of war.
Clarke studied at Monash University, receiving a Masters of Fine Art from the University of Tasmania. Clarke was winner of the National Sculpture Prize 2005, the Hobart Art Prize 1991, as well as the Hazlehurst Art on Paper Award 2015. Clarke’s work is held in private collections nationally, private US Museums, the Australian War Memorial, the National Gallery of Australia and the National Gallery of Victoria.
We Are Star Dust – Billion Year Old Carbon
Click here to view more works by Glen Clarke.
