Turner Galleries in Perth will be closed from 8 to 21 November 2016.
Turner Galleries will be presenting a solo exhibition of new paintings by renowned West Australian artist Gregory Pryor at Art Taipei 2016.
This project will form an important part of the Turner Galleries 2016 Artist in Residence Programme in which artists are supported for travel and a solo exhibition to extend artistic networks between Perth and the rest of the world, whilst building relationships between artists and patrons.
This project is especially significant for us because Perth is a Sister City to Taipei. We are in the privileged position of being cultural ambassadors from Perth, and will also be working with the City of Perth and Australian Office Taipei, along with the Taipei Artist Village, to facilitate the exchange of cultural ideas, provide artist talks and promote relationship growth and respect between our two cities.
Gregory Pryor was selected because he has strong ties with Taipei. He participated in the 2007 Taipei + Perth Artist Exchange Residency held at the Taipei Artist Village, and has returned a number of times since then, doing further research into ideas that emerged on his residency. He is therefore delighted to be showcasing his new paintings at such a prestigious art fair in a city and country that has played such a big role in his recent art practice.
Since moving to Perth, from Melbourne in 2003, Pryor has been exploring aspects of the West Australian landscape in order to better understand and identify with his new home. Much of this research acknowledges the damage wrought upon the land by mining, agriculture and urban sprawl. His current oil on linen paintings, titled The Yilgarn Lacunae, address these issues and have evolved into extraordinary and unique interpretations of the land that verge on abstraction, yet retain an authentic experience of the West Australian landscape.
Pryor stated that, "I am looking to squash some of the space and the immensity so often associated with landscape painting in Australia into a series of small devotional paintings." Although not truly representational, these paintings "aim however, to transport the viewer to a much larger space that for many, remains distant, unrecognised and little understood. The subject matter is derived from investigations into isolated landscapes of Western Australia – many of which are landscape fragments or remnants." "So these little tableaux are addressing ideas of restoration, repatriation and repair. They also by necessity, need to acknowledge what has been lost and how this came to be, so they can be read as annals of destruction, templates of fracture and harrowing memorials to loss and emptiness."
(Artist statement, April 2016).
Gregory Pryor has a distinguished career as a painter with works represented in collections including the National Gallery of Australia, National Gallery of Victoria, Queensland Art Gallery, Art Gallery of Western Australia, Murdoch University, City of Perth, University of Western Australia, Edith Cowan University and Wesfarmers. Gregory received a highly sought after Creative Arts Development Fellowship from the West Australian Department of Culture and the Arts WA in 2015. He currently has many paintings included in two important exhibitions that opened in Perth in September 2016: Unknown Land at the Art Gallery of Western Australia, and Invisible Genres at John Curtin Gallery.
Gregory Pryor studied at RMIT University Melbourne, graduating in 1980. He has been a lecturer in visual arts at Edith Cowan University since arriving in Perth in 2003 where he is now Head of Painting. With a strong basis in painting, Pryor's visual arts practice has evolved into many different areas, including drawing, video, performance and object based work. Pryor has exhibited extensively throughout Australia and overseas, and his academic writing includes numerous essays for catalogues and art publications.
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- TURNER GALLERIES | showcasing contemporary art
at 470 WILLIAM STREET NORTHBRIDGE WESTERN AUSTRALIA 6003 - TURNER GALLERIES HAS NOW CLOSED.
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