richard giblett

frontier

6 july - 4 august 2018

• william yeoman, marvel at masterful musings the west australian, 7 july 2018

We welcome back to Perth Richard Giblett, who will also be participating in our Artist in Residence Programme.

Giblett will be exhibiting a range of new and recent works in his exhibition titled Frontier. Works on display will be typical of his ongoing interest in space, architecture, advertising and a commitment to making fine, detailed works which draw in and sustain the viewer, including paintings, collages and sculptures. Cities have long fascinated him and played a major role in his art. He suspects that growing up and travelling by plane in Hong Kong may have influenced him:
"We lived up on the eighth floor, so I spent all those first years looking out and looking down on things, this bird's eye view... I remember looking out the airplane window and seeing people in the apartments. You literally had to fly between apartment blocks to land."
[Sunday Age 3.12.2017] Arriving to live in the flatlands of Perth at age seven must have been a stark contrast.

A love of drawing, and a background in graphic design, has also inspired his artworks. Giblett uses gouache on his painted, and collaged, works in Frontier, creating highly detailed and meticulous designs with a tiny brush. Themes of luxury goods, industry, advertising, architecture and art history combine to create unique artworks, that don't necessarily critique, but rather, draw attention to the mass consumerisation of our lives. The major new work in this exhibition is titled Sump System II [Frontier]. It follows on from his last major work, Sump System [2016] that was acquired by the National Gallery of Victoria. The new work consists of four panels, each measuring 100 x 200cm, together creating a work that is 2m x 4 m in size on the wall. Factories and buildings seem to float weightlessly in a black void, connected by gridded structures, all with a duplicated base, as though sitting on black mirror - but the reflections are an impossible geometry, which both bewilder and enthral the viewer. The title, Sump System II [Frontier], could refer to our reliance on natural resources, oil in particular, especially with the interconnected industrial looking pipes, or perhaps it's a futuristic vision of an intergalactic refinery, run by Chanel, Shell, Xerox, Sony and burgers... Giblett's works certainly encourage questions and stimulate our imaginations.

Giblett studied Graphic Design, graduating in 1987, then went on to complete a Bachelor of Fine Arts [Hons] in 1999 at Curtin University in Perth, before relocating to Melbourne where he has been based for the past 16 years. He has regularly exhibited in Melbourne, with Murray White Room over the past decade, and most recently in major international exhibitions including the NGV Triennial [2017], Art Basel Hong Kong [2015] and Lisbon Architecture Triennial, Portugal [2016]. His artworks can be found in significant Australian art collections.

 

 

 

 

Courtesy Murray White Room

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

sump system II [frontier] gouache on paper 100 x 200cm x 4 panels 2018 $60,000 framed sold to art gallery of WA
enclosed system 4 [refinery] gouache on card on found photograph 78 x 98cm 2015 $11,000
YSL system IV gouache on card collage on photograph 24.5 x 17.5cm 2017 $5,500	YSL system V gouache, collage on paper 84 x 59cm 2018 $9,500
bauhaus de stijl block steel set squares, MDF, enamel paint, LED light, perspex 125 x 42 x 26cm 2011 $7,500
warehouse perspex, plastic, lacquer, synthetic polymer paints, MDF plinth 125 x 68 x 34cm 2015 $15,000