Ash Keating’s exhibition Duality is on show at Linden until 16 May 2021.
Following a year of creative experimentation and marking a transition in technique, Ash's new works have been built with many layers of pigment and textural materials. We recently caught up with Ash in his huge studio space to find out more about his practice and the ideas behind his recent work.
My painting practice is predominantly abstract gravity fed compositions. On large exterior walls I use acrylic house-paints and water
applied with fire extinguishers, and within the studio working on linen I use a spray gun, atomising premium artist paints and water.
However, in 2020 I decided to use the strange year and lockdowns as an opportunity to experiment with textures and mark making which I had
long been hoping to find time to explore.
For these new works I embedded peculiar materials into paints and binders such as perlite, vermiculite, mica flakes and two different sized reflective glass beads, the type used on roads and road signs.
Making the works with Glass Beads was wild, as I thickened paint with them and both flung and dropped dollops onto the canvas, then I threw
clean beads at the wet areas so as the outer edge would reflect the colours from underneath.
More recently I have started really being inspired by other artists, ones that have come before me and others working today.
Actually the inspiration to use these materials in my Linden show came from a research trip to New York in late 2018. It was there I visited exhibitions of works by Jack Whitten at The Met Breuer and Mary Course at The Whitney Museum, and was so inspired by both artists’ work I told myself that I needed to incorporate texture into future works of my own.
Depending on the project I may be working on something for a week or a few months, I far more enjoy the battle with a series over many
months. There is significant planning and preparation to everything I do, however during the painting process I love to improvise as each
mark leads to the next and takes you on journey where the destination is more often unknown.
With a three-month exhibition I felt like it would be great to re-invigorate the space and also reward the gallery audience with an
incentive to return to see the show.
Both series of paintings are textural and have to be seen in person to full appreciate them. In their own ways they are both immersive and subtle, and they shift as you move in and around them, though my second series, titled Fall, is quite dynamic and jumps off the canvas.
From 26 March to 6 April I have a collaboration with John Wardle Architects on a rooftop at 130 Little Collins St. in Melbourne’s CBD for a
project which is part of Design Week.
But what I am most excited about is getting back into the studio in the coming months to create new paintings for my solo exhibition with Kronenberg Mais Wright in Sydney. This will run from late August to mid-September 2021.
Photographs: Theresa Harrison Photography
+ More info about Ash Keating +Visit
the Ash Keating > Duality
Thursday 6 May 2021, 6PM to 7PM, FREE Live on YouTube and Facebook
Join Linden Curator Juliette Hanson in a lively discussion with leading mid-career artist Ash Keating as they explore the ideas and the
processes used to make the new work for his exhibition Duality.
Dr Marion Piper's essay Creating Certainty explores her response to seeing art in real life in
January, when she visited the Linden Postcard Show 2020-21.
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Stunning studio photographs by Theresa Harrison accompanied by a series of reflections from the artists, providing new insights into their practice.
I see death and the passage of time as a natural part of life and want to engage in ideas about the power
of loss ..
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Often my work draws upon nostalgia to playfully engage with the mundane every day .+ Read more
My creative process becomes a meditative act in itself…drawing me into the moment of self-forgetting ...
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I paint mainly women in interiors. I want to create a recognisable intensity and intimacy ...
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I hope viewers experience Joy in the sensuality of the elaborate and boldly theatrical, and surprise at
the allure of this artifice ...
+ Read more
In 2020 I decided to use the strange year and lockdowns as an opportunity to experiment with textures and
mark making which I had long been hoping to find time to explore ...
+ Read more
I very briefly studied fashion and considered it as a career, which certainly shaped my approach to making
work ...
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My work responds to both the domestic and to natural environments, often looking for a point where these
two areas collide or come into conflict
...
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If you like what you see, we hope that you will share this with your friends, family and colleagues.
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22 May 2021 > 22 August 2021
To Feed your Oracle
Ruth Höflich is an artist and filmmaker, born in Munich, Germany, and currently based in Melbourne. In an
installation of video, photography and site intervention, To
Feed Your Oracle will
explore how we might understand, or predict, things that we can’t see and how our expectations might affect how we experience the
unknown.
+ Read more
Wellness Deity
Vipoo Srivilasa is a Thai-born Melbourne-based artist, curator and arts activist. This exhibition will present the Wellness Deity Project,
which Srivilasa undertook in response to the COVID-19 pandemic. This collaborative, community-driven project invited people to submit a
drawing of their Wellness Deity, a being that has a special empowering or protective power.
+ Read more
Natasha Bieniek is best-known for her miniature oil paintings. Bieniek’s paintings are meticulous in their
execution and demand close inspection. They link the ancient tradition of 16th century miniature painting with present-day image culture.
This exhibition brings together a suit of recent works that have not been seen together before, including Bieniek’s stand out painting, Biophilia,
which was the winner of the Wynne Prize in 2015.
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Things to explore in our Local Neighbourhood to enhance your next visit to St Kilda and the gallery.
+ Read more
A recap of recent Linden Contemporaries adventures exploring some of the best private art
collections in Melbourne.
+ Read more
We look forward to welcoming you at the gallery soon to see our latest series of solo exhibitions by leading
mid-career artists.
> Troy Emery's Sonder
> Nicholas Folland's Burn Down the House
> Ash
Keating's Duality.
If you would like to find out more about these exceptional artists, book into a Meet the Artist
session to hear from them what drives their practice and what inspires their creativity.
I would like to offer my thanks to Creative Victoria for the additional funding to support this new initiative and to the fabulous team at Linden who have worked behind the scenes to create Linden Extra.
Melinda Martin
Director
March 2021
Q&A by Juliette Hanson | Editing: Juliette Hanson & Chloé Hazelwood | Design: Mathieu Vendeville
