Into the Woods
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Publication Date
2023
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Avondale Authors
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Abstract
Collegial was and exhibition of 20 multi-panel paintings on paper produced in collaboration by Andy Collis and Richard Morris. The works were exhibited at Art Systems Wickham, Newcastle, October 20 – November 5, 2023.
Description
Research Background
Art collaborations have a strong history as typified in such instances as Andy Warhol & Jean-Michel Basquiat, Frida Kahlo & Diego Rivera, Max Ernst & Dorotheo Tanning, to name a few. Typically such collaborations bring together artists who exhibit quite different artistic sensibilities, and the results have the potential to quite unique, if not even quite aesthetically charged.
Research Contribution
Collegial was a collaboration of two Visual Arts lecturers who were colleagues at Avondale College for the better parts of 25 years. Exhibiting quite different artistic sensibilities, the two artists had at times talked of collaborating for the production of a body of work. The works in this exhibition followed a simple program of Morris pre-painting sheets of paper with quite non-objective painterly treatments, arranging the sheets into a distinct grid approximately 1.5m square before pinning them to a large sheet of plywood. The plywood panel was then transported to a landscape environment familiar to both artists onto which, Collis would add plein-air landscape imagery. Discussions varied at this stage of production with respect to levels of engagement Collis would adopt in the final treatment of the works. The resulting works establish a unique ‘figure/ground’ relationships which varied in their success.
Research Significance
The significance of this research is that the resulting collaborative works were specifically dependent on several unique circumstances. These include; the limited control each artist had over the establishment of a final result, restricted subject matter which amounted to local landscape locations both artists were familiar with at their workplace, a long history of professional association with each other via co-taught, or shared teaching responsibilities, 25 years of professional and personal friendship and a deep respect for each other’s particular engagement with the landscape as a source of subject matter.
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Citation
Morris, R. (2023). Into the woods [Acrylic and enamel on Fabriano paper]. Art Systems Wickham Gallery, Newcastle, Australia.