Black Mountain - Rohan Fraser (SA)

4 Mar 2015 - 21 Mar 2015

Artist Talk - 5:30

For many of the paintings in this exhibition, I've moved away from referencing scenes from life and have increasingly relied on introspection to make the pictures. This creates a stark two-dimensional quality and encourages symbolism and ritual in the process. These must be landscapes I've witnessed in some way or another and stored in my blood - barren rockfields which evoke a peaceful attitude when I seek them out, dreaming about the earth before the proliferation of life, or drawing small communities which somehow exist outside times usual passage. The scenes I paint from life also reflect this idyllic emptiness. I choose quaint or banal moments which resonate with me, and recall the luxurious work of painters who were concerned mostly with beauty. The spare mark-making might reflect the fleeting nature of these impressions; of a prized memory, you could recall the motes of dust in a beam of light more than the features of a cupboard in the very same space. There is a kind of metaphorical muscle we use to hold on to these impressions, but it generally falters.

In 2008, Rohan graduated from the Adelaide Central School of Art with honours. He has since held 3 solo exhibitions and countless group shows around SA and interstate. In this time he has also engaged in place making projects with the Adelaide City Council, won the Derivan Award for the Royal Adelaide Society of the Arts Portrait Prize, and worked in collaboration with high school students as an artist in residence. In 2010-2011 he was the artist in residence at the CARCLEW youth art institute, and in 2012 was accepted for the Launceston City Council artist in residence program, a formative experience which inspired many future paintings.