Backwash

Contemporary artists have lived through an era of uncertainty and disillusionment. Floating along a current of late-capitalism, a self-perpetuating system of waste, they find themselves stuck in a cyclical deadlock, overloaded with images of humanity's self-destruction. In creating art from the 'backwash' of contemporary life, this group of artists seek to grapple with a tide of excessive mass consumption and an ever intensifying globalisation by readdressing its residues.

Perhaps resigned to the idea that art's power to change the world has disappeared, or equally suspicious of the subsumption of art into a commodified, institutionalised market, many artists prefer to work within the 'backwash' as a way to express their discomfort.  Yet these artists are also finely attuned to the poetic plasticity of their materials and seek to break the trajectory of waste by addressing its abject beauty.

Backwash includes works by Robert Bittenbender, Isabella Darcy, George Egerton-Warburton, Sarah Goffman, Spencer Lai, Marian Tubbs, and Philadelphia Wireman. Curated by Oscar Capezio and Tony Oates.

You are cordially invited to the opening of the exhibition on Thursday 31 August, 2023, 6pm. The exhibition will be officially launched in conjunction with JARDINIÈRE: Ruth Waller and Toni Warburton by Dr Peter Alwast, Head of Painting and Masters Convenor, ANU School of Art & Design. No registrations are required to attend.