This exhibition features artworks from some of Perth’s most exciting young artists, all aged under 26. All are recent graduates from Central TAFE, Curtin University or Edith Cowan University. They were hand-selected as among the very best young artists to have emerged in Perth over the past two years by Gallery Director Helen Morgan and her Gallery Curator Allison Archer.

A diverse scope of work will be on display, ranging from Kate Fauld’s delicate cast wax pieces that resemble impossible gallery support and display structures, to Buffy Hallam’s cast concrete work that evokes a miniature architectural installation. Her small panels are altered by their positioning, able to become a ceiling, wall or platform. Their props can change from being the supporter to the supported. In this way she creates a dialogue that evolves through various arrangements of tension and intersection.

Sam Rowlands works with photographs, often based on everyday environments. He stated, “we become immune to the repetition of our everyday actions. The way we look at what we see everyday becomes softened by our existing notion of our surrounds. The work leaves the viewer to try and pull together some sort of hard edge image from the surface, but is left with only traces of the familiar.”

Dimple Shah will take up her trademark black insulation tape once again to create striking geometric mapping patterns utilising three of the Gallery’s display panels.

Abstract paintings from Natalie Brown are designed to mesmerise the viewer’s eyes with their optical illusions. Her paintings are large, “so as the picture plane is no longer just an object on the wall, but rather, a space which surrounds the viewer, allowing the viewer to participate directly with the work.” These works contrast strongly with Christopher Foy’s small scale, still life florals (composed of plasticine and Lego) which are a dramatically different take on domestic art.

Emily Mabee works with oil paint, but not in a traditional manner. She explores the formal qualities, physical processes and conventions of painting, whilst manipulating the material possibilities of acrylic paint. Emily establishes links between painting and textile, through her woven paintings, and extends paint activity beyond the framed edge of the painting, using the gallery space as a secondary framing device.

This is an exciting assortment of contemporary young thought and art.

*prices valid 2002