Join us for the opening event on Wednesday 5 February at 5.30pm
Ash, Awe and Introspection
As part of ANCA’s support for emerging artists in the Canberra region, the ANCA Gallery awards an annual exhibition (EASS Award) to an ANU School of Art & Design graduate, or graduates, whose work demonstrates creative distinction. In December 2024 the ANCA prize was awarded to three art school graduates: Ira Gold, Tanya King and James O’Rourke. Ash, Awe and Introspection brings together the work of these three recent graduates for the first time, working across a variety of mediums including charcoal, oils and ceramics. Each artist presents their individual reflections under the broad thematic of the environment and the self. Ash, Awe and Introspection explores concepts of belonging, elemental forces of nature and interpersonal connection.
Ira Gold with his work Scorched-Earth, 2024, synthetic polymer paint, dye, ash and charcoal on 16 panels.
Artist statements:
Ira Gold: ‘Scorched-Earth explores my understanding of my home in Mparntwe, as an emerging First Nations artist of mixed heritage. My work is a response to the 2023 Northern Territory bushfires fuelled by Buffel grass.’
James O'Rourke, Masking: (v) to meet social expectations and blend into society through exhausting effort (detail), 2024, stoneware and earthernware.
Foreground: James O’Rourke, Double Empathy Problem III, glazed stoneware, 31 x 18 x 18cm and Double Empathy Problem II, glazed stoneware, 37 x 15 x 15cm. Painting by Tanya King, Impermanent Awe 1, 2024, oil on canvas, 102 x 510cm.
James O’Rourke: ‘The conflict between how we perceive ourselves and how we are perceived does not just apply interpersonally, but also within the self. Obfuscation of one's own emotions is common among the neurodiverse. This leads to a feeling that one’s true self is tantalisingly out of reach.’
Tanya King: ‘In these landscape paintings, I explore feelings of awe and impermanence. Mountains can evoke wonder and reverence combined with foreboding and fear. Their epic proportions can remind us of things greater than ourselves.’
The exhibition runs from 29 January to 16 February 2025 inclusive.