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From the Island to the city centre

Deborah Sleeman, Les enfants perdus (detail), 2016–17, mixed media, 350 x 250 x 200 cm.
Deborah Sleeman, Les enfants perdus (detail), 2016–17, mixed media, 350 x 250 x 200 cm.

The beauty, ferocity and isolation of Kangaroo Island comes to Adelaide’s city centre in a new art exhibition at Flinders University City Gallery as part of the South Australian Living Artists Festival which opens today.

Island to Inland features ten contemporary visual artists living and working on the island who have produced work in response to its isolation, history, and unique and rugged beauty.

The exhibition is the result of a partnership between Country Arts SA and Flinders University Art Musuem, and has been co-curated by Eleanor Scicchitano (Country Arts SA) and Celia Dottore (Flinders University Art Museum).The exhibition of paintings, photographs, textiles, and sculpture and installation pieces celebrates the diversity of the artist’s work as well as their island home.

Left - Quentin Chester, Cartouche, 2017, giclée print on German etching paper, edition of 5, 122 x
Left – Quentin Chester, Cartouche, 2017, giclée print on German etching paper, edition of 5, 122 x 125 cm.      Right – Indiana James, GIVE WAY (detail), 2016–17, steel and recycled aluminium road signs, 160 x 160 x 55 cm (irregular).

Kangaroo Island is Australia’s third-largest island, after Tasmania and Melville Island, and is one of the country’s most popular tourist destinations. Renowned for its varied landscape, it has long been considered a haven for visual artists since European explorers illustrated their discoveries in the early 19th century; through to the practising contemporary artists of today.

Fiona Salmon, Director of Flinders University Art Museum, said that Flinders University has a close association with Kangaroo Island, through research revealing the island’s importance in academic areas, such as pleistocene palaeontology, climate change research, and maritime archaeology.

“We are delighted to have been part of this project, which represents another important link to the community and lens through which to appreciate this extraordinary place”, she said.

Left - Scott Hartshorne, Double happiness, 2016, oil and alkyd on primed canvas, 100 x 72.5 cm. Right - Caroline Taylor, The Botanist, 2017, oil and digital print on paper, 120 x 90 cm.
Left – Scott Hartshorne, Double happiness, 2016, oil and alkyd on primed canvas, 100 x 72.5 cm.      Right – Caroline Taylor, The Botanist, 2017, oil and digital print on paper, 120 x 90 cm.

The exhibition features works by Ria Byass, Quentin Chester, Audrey Harnett, Scott Hartshorne, Indiana James, Janine Mackintosh, Deborah Sleeman, Caroline Taylor, Maggie Welz, and Kenita Williamson.

Island to Inland is on display at Flinders University City Gallery until 3 September 2017 as part of the SALA festival, before touring regional South Australia until 2019.

 

Island to Inland
Flinders University City Gallery
State Library of South Australia,
North Terrace,
Adelaide, SA, 5000.
Ph: 8207 7055

Tuesday – Friday: 11am – 4pm
Saturday & Sunday: 12 – 4pm

Free entry

All works copyright courtesy the artist.

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