joan ross

you can't just take everything

3 october - 1 november 2014

JOAN ROSS combines images of early colonial paintings with aspects of contemporary life in her witty and darkly humorous digital prints and videos.

These striking works force the viewer to contemplate the complex relationship we have with the Imperial occupation of Australia. Relationships of power are often symbolised in her use of fluorescent colours, referencing hi-vis vests where the wearer has the power to go anywhere, unquestioned. The title of her exhibition, You can't just take everything, implies otherwise.

She often appropriates colonial paintings, such as those by John Glover and Jospeh Lycett, and turns their depiction of an Arcadian land blessed with peaceful coexistence between the Aboriginal population and the early settlers, into artworks that challenge this notion. Her hi-vis vest wearing early settlers are out of touch with reality, flying in on their magic carpet to picnic with the Aborigines in her video BBQ this Sunday, BYO. In Colonial grab a well-to-do colonial woman, clad in fluro yellow, plays a slot machine to win land and creates sculptures out of Glover trees in her Ikebana room. The claiming of things features a colonial couple that graffiti a rock face (hilariously spelling out Bank$ia) in a landscape divided by a fluorescent yellow picket fence, whilst a group of Aborigines swim and laze alongside the river. The settlers go on to trash this idyllic landscape, their debris including illuminated roadside signage declaring 'INSERT MEMORY STICK', 'PREPARE TO MERGE' and 'EXPECT DELAYS'.

Joan Ross' artworks can be found in the public collections of the National Gallery of Australia, Artbank, the regional galleries of Bathurst, Gold Coast and Newcastle, the University of Sydney and the University of Wollongong, along with many important corporate and private collections.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

joan ross artwork
BBQ this sunday, BYO
edition 20
digital animation, 4:59min
2011
sold out
joan ross artwork
space invaders
edition 1 of 5
digital animation, 7:20min
2013
$1,200
joan ross artwork
m'lady's ikebana room
edition 1 of 5
hand painted pigment print on cotton rag paper
91 x 71cm
2014
$5,000
joan ross artwork
touching other people's butterflies
edition 3 of 6
digital animation, 2:45min
2013
$4,800
joan ross artwork
colonial grab
edition 1 of 10
digital animation, 7:38min
2014
$7,500 sold 1/10 to edith cowan university
joan ross artwork
barbie bush
digital video, 0:54min
2010
$NFS
joan ross artwork
the visitors
edition 2 of 3
hand painted pigment print on cotton rag paper
90 x 70cm
2013
$4,500
joan ross artwork
the claiming of things
edition 9 of 10
digital animation, 7:36min
2012
$9,500
joan ross artwork
the VIP lounge
edition 1 of 5
hand painted pigment print on cotton rag paper
61 x 90cm
2014
$5,00
joan ross artwork
just take everything and put it on your mantle
edition 1 of 5
pigment print on cotton rag paper
90 x 85cm
2014
$5,000 sold 1/5