David Eastwood
mise en scéne
17 November - 12 December, 2007
 Where Your Eyes
Don't Go ..2007, acrylic on linen, 66x56cm |
|
One of the more interesting
ironies about modernity, specifically in respect to visual art,
is that often one of the most accurate indices of a work's contemporaneity
is the degree to which it successfully rearticulates positions
and techniques originating in the past. Before the western tradition
developed a schema for the naturalistic rendering of objects
within space, the elements making up a painting's narrative -
a diadem or a tabletop for example, were depicted singularly
as was the area surrounding them. On the basis of the similarities
between this process and the way in which Photoshop and other
digital imaging programs work by allowing for the isolation from
the overall picture space of an object and its immediate environment
it is possible to argue that the recent work of David Eastwood
has aspects that are both inside and outside their time.
The works of which
I write have a strong sense of pattern and heightened optical
effect evidencing as much a debt to Bridget Riley as they do
to the fabrics and wallpapers of the 1970s. These paintings are
characterised by a light source that is generally consistent
across their surface working to naturalize and coagulate the
disparate elements - a plastic IKEA chair, wallpaper derived
from Vermeer or the carpet from Stanley Kubrick's The Shining
within the apertureless and theatricalised space that is
quite possibly more stage than canvas. In these works David Eastwood
is as much director as painter. The furniture with its eerie
sentience has a disquieting aspect that is best understood by
reference to the term character actor. As do other various objects,
which, like everything else in this series of paintings, are
meticulously rendered in a halo of fictive space that Eastwood
uses to quarantine his actors.
It is the discourse
between these hitherto mute objects that links these paintings
with current Mise en scène strategies. For Eastwood
the pictorial space of the canvas has become a theatre set, a
site of action, a rhetorical space where a sort of static, ritualised
drama is staged. In these new works a formal and conceptual approach
is emerging that has affinities with the theory and practice
of cinema and the theatre. It is a new direction for Eastwood.
The artist as director interestingly enough has its origins,
as does single point perspective, in the early renaissance, when
artists elaborated pageants and other forms of spectacle that
were - as are the recent works of David Eastwood - complexly
coded, often oblique, associative narratives.
Gary Carsley, October
2007
|
 The Music Next
Door ..2007, acrylic on linen, 84x84cm |
 Blind Spot .. 2007,
acrylic on linen, 41x35cm |
|
 Soliloquy..2007,
acrylic on linen, 41x35cm
|
 Room
237..2006, acrylic on linen, 152x167cm |
|
click here to see
images from previous shows
|
DAVID EASTWOOD
1975
1993-96
.
1997-99
.
1999-Present
.
2003-Present
|
Born in Sydney, Australia. Currently lives and works in Sydney
Bachelor of Fine Arts with First Class Honours,
College of Fine Arts, University of New South Wales
Master of Fine Arts,
College of Fine Arts, University of New South Wales
Part-time Lecturer, Painting & Drawing,
College of Fine Arts, University of New South Wales
Part-time Lecturer, Painting, National Art School, Sydney
|
INDIVIDUAL EXHIBITIONS
1999
1999
2001
2003
2005
2007
|
COFA Exhibition Space : College of Fine Arts, University of New South Wales
Tilt, Robin Gibson Gallery, Sydney
Crumple, Robin Gibson Gallery, Sydney
Split, Robin Gibson Gallery, Sydney
Marks, Robin Gibson Gallery, Sydney
Mise en scene, Robin Gibson Gallery, Sydney
|
GROUP EXHIBITIONS
1996
.
.
.
.
1997
.
.
.
.
.
.
1998
.
.
1999
.
.
.
.
.
2000
.
.
.
.
.
.
2001
.
.
.
.
2002
2003
.
.
.
2004
.
.
2005
.
.
.
.
.
2006
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
2007
|
Salon Des Refuses, S.H. Ervin Gallery, Sydney
Eight is Enough, College of Fine Arts Gallery,Sydney
New Portraiture, College of Fine Arts Gallery, Sydney
Lloyd Rees Memorial Youth Art Award, Lane Cove Council, Sydney
and Atrium Gallery, ABC, Ultimo Centre, Sydney
Six Recent Graduates, Crawford Gallery, Sydney
Jenny Birt Award, University of New South Wales
Hatched - Healthway National Graduate Show , Perth Institute of Contemporary Arts, Perth
UNSW Union Art Competition, University of New South Wales
National Tertiary Art Prize, Watt Space Gallery, Newcastle
Royal Over-Seas League 14th Annual Open Exhibition, Over-Seas
House, London and Edinburgh College of Art, Scotland
Uncommon Masters, COFA Exhibition Space, Sydney
Willoughby City Art Prize, Willoughby Civic Centre, Sydney
Lloyd Rees Memorial Youth Art Award, Lane Cove Council, Sydney
50th Anniversary Mosman Art Prize, Mosman Art Gallery, Sydney
The King's School Art Prize, The King's School, Sydney
Willoughby City Art Prize, Willoughby Civic Centre, Sydney
MFA graduates, Ivan Dougherty Gallery, Sydney
The First Show of the Last Year of the Millenium, Robin Gibson Gallery, Sydney
Praxis, Kudos Gallery, Sydney
The Postcard Show, Linden Arts Centre and Gallery, Melbourne
An Appointment with Reality, Sir Hermann Black Gallery, Sydney
Lloyd Rees Memorial Youth Art Award, Lane Cove Council Cove Room,
Sydney and Atrium Gallery, ABC Ultimo Centre
The Art of Drawing, Robin Gibson Gallery, Sydney
Brett Whiteley Travelling Art Scholarship, Brett Whiteley Studio, Sydney
Selected Works by Gallery Artists, Robin Gibson Gallery, Sydney
Praxis, Kudos Gallery, Sydney
Preview, Robin Gibson Gallery, Sydney
Alumni on Paper, Kudos Gallery, Sydney
Context, Kudos Gallery, Sydney and Watt Space Gallery, Newcastle
Brett Whiteley Travelling Art Scholarship, Brett Whiteley Studio, Sydney
Paris Days: The UNSW Studio in Paris, Ivan Dougherty Gallery, Sydney
Praxis, Kudos Gallery, Sydney
Destination Drawing, COFA Exhibition Space, Sydney
Redlands Westpac Art Prize, Mosman Art Gallery, Sydney'
Still Life, Robin Gibson Gallery, Sydney
The Year in Art, S.H. Ervin Gallery, Sydney
Willoughby City Art Prize, Willoughby Civic Centre, Sydney
Brett Whiteley Travelling Art Scholarship, Brett Whiteley Studio, Sydney
Praxis, Kudos Gallery, Sydney
Hazelhurst Art Award: Art on Paper, Hazelhurst Regional Gallery & Arts Centre, Gymea, NSW
Dobell Drawing Prize, Art Gallery of New South Wales, Sydney
Robert Jacks Drawing Prize, Bendigo Art Gallery, Victoria
The Year In Art, S.H. Ervin Gallery, Sydney
The Alumni Prize, Kudos Gallery, Sydney
From the Stockroom, Robin Gibson Gallery, Sydney
Praxis, Kudos Gallery, Sydney
Adelaide Perry Prize for Drawing, Adelaide Perry Gallery, Sydney
Swan Hill Print and Drawing Acquisitive Awards, Swan Hill Regional Art Gallery, Victoria
Visions of a Municipality 2: The Second Exhibition of Lane Cove's Art Treasures, Lane
Cove Council, Sydney
ABN AMRO Emerging Artist Award, ABN AMRO Tower, Sydney
Three, Robin Gibson Gallery, Sydney
Shelf Life, The Delmar Gallery, Ashfield, Sydney
Summery Christmas Show, Robin Gibson Gallery, Sydney
Metro 5 Art Award, Metro 5 Gallery, Melbourne and Benalla Regional Art Gallery, Victoria
Adelaide Perry Prize for Drawing, Adelaide Perry Gallery, Croydon, Sydney
Hazelhurst Art Award: Art on Paper, Hazelhurst Regional Gallery & Arts Centre, Gymea, NSW
|
AWARDS
1997
.
1997-99
1998
.
.
2000
2001
2003
|
University Medal, University of New South Wales
First Prize, UNSW Union Art Competition
Australian Postgraduate Award (Scholarship)
People's Choice Award, Willoughby City Art Prize
Highly Commended, Lloyd Rees Memorial Youth Art Award
Studio Residency, Cite Internationale des Arts, Paris
Winnner, Lloyd Rees Memorial Youth Art Award
Commended, Brett Whiteley Travelling Art Scholarship
Viewer,s Choice Award, Redlands Westpac Art Prize
|
COLLECTIONS
College of Fine Arts, University of New South Wales
International Drawing Research Institute Archive, University of New South Wales
Lloyd Rees Memorial Youth Art Award Collection
|
PUBLICATIONS
Anderson, Patricia, "City in Everyone's Image", The Weekend Australian, August 23-24, 2003, Review p21
Cotter, Richard, "Comedy and Tragedy", The Paper, No. 45, November 2001, p7
"Lloyd Rees Memorial Youth Art Award", The Village Observer, No. 76, June 2000, p11
Low, Lenny Ann, "Rust For Life", Sydney Morning Herald, Weekend Edition, November 17-18, 2001, Metropolitan p13
Miller, Sarah, Hatched: Healthway National Graduate Show '97, Exhibition catalogue, PICApress, Perth, 1997, p34
Morgan, Clare, "Spotlight", Sydney Morning Herald, Wednesday, August 20, 2003, p17
"Profiles", Art Almanac, August 2003, p130
Royal Over-Seas League Fourteenth Annual Open Exhibition, Exhibition catalogue, ROSL, London, 1997
"Twist of Luck for Artist David", North Shore Times, Friday, May 19, 2000, p5
|
|
HOME | EXHIBITIONS | ARTISTS | GALLERY INFO
R O B I N G I B S O N G A L L E R Y
|