Interview in Eyes on Wellington

 

Exhibition - Global and Dynamic World of Today

 

International Art Studio Radovan Trnavac Mića is pleased to invite you to the opening of

Global and Dynamic World of Today

Recent prints by Damon Kowarsky and Hyunju Kim

"The global and dynamic world of today, facilitated and emphasized by communicative ease, has changed the way of life for many artists who have replaced the former customary static existence with pronounced mobility. Acquiring new knowledge, establishing contacts, exchanging ideas and experiences with colleagues and audiences from various environments are valuable and fruitful aspects of the artist’s relocation and active “travel”.

The artistic duo Damon Kowarsky and Hyunju Kim belong to the group of authors who have gladly embraced the challenges of mobility. While domiciled in Australia, their professional creative and exhibition activities have been conducted worldwide: from the United Kingdom, Greece, the USA, New Zealand, India, Hong Kong, Oman, Egypt, China, to Pakistan, Saudi Arabia, France, and the Balkans, namely Montenegro and Serbia (Studenica, Sićevo, Niš). From the perspective of their creativity, this flexible existential concept is highly inspirational and positively effective."

Milica Todorović, Art Historian

Exhibition opening Thursday 4 July from 7 pm

Gallery hours 11 am to 7 pm Tuesday to Sunday
Suvoborska 48/1, 14000 Valjevo, Serbia

Catalogue Essay by Milica Todorović

 GLOBAL AND DYNAMIC WORLD OF TODAY

The global and dynamic world of today, facilitated and emphasized by communicative ease, has changed the way of life for many artists who have replaced the former customary static existence with pronounced mobility. Acquiring new knowledge, establishing contacts, exchanging ideas and experiences with colleagues and audiences from various environments are valuable and fruitful aspects of the artist’s relocation and active “travel.”

The artistic duo Damon Kowarsky and Hyunju Kim belong to the group of authors who have gladly embraced the challenges of mobility. While domiciled in Australia, their professional creative and exhibition activities have been conducted worldwide: from the United Kingdom, Greece, the USA, New Zealand, India, Hong Kong, Oman, Egypt, China, to Pakistan, Saudi Arabia, France, and the Balkans, namely Montenegro and Serbia (Studenica, Sićevo, Niš). From the perspective of their creativity, this flexible existential concept is highly inspirational and positively effective.

At the core of Damon Kowarsky’s opus is the visualization of personal impressions of a physically defined living environment, which for him is a transient place of temporary residence and acquaintance. Through the specificity of his practice and poetics, he creates a visual diary, a unique personal image of the world in which geographical landscapes and cities he has visited and with which he has established an empathetic or intuitive connection are accentuated. The artist’s focus is directed towards urban architecture, both extraordinary and mundane buildings in a natural environment, or towards the immediate landscape. Kowarsky changes vistas, finds specific viewpoints, carefully “captures” the scene, but in his artistic interpretation, he concentrates on an intimate experience that is contemplative, with a sense of harmony and balance. Kowarsky’s artistic elaboration fundamentally rests on meticulous and precise drawing, precise treatment of form whether it is of natural or architectural origin, skillful framing, clearly defined perspective, and fine, almost pastel soft gradation of tones, mainly of two colors, green and gray. With these means and thanks to his great personal artistic skill, Kowarsky transforms the real environment into a quiet, mysterious, lyrically intoned artistic scene that serves as a sanctuary from the noisy and chaotic world of today.

Hyunju Kim, originally from South Korea where she was also educated, bases her creativity on the codes of the so-called collective cultural memory. The artist re-contextualizes historical facts of different origins that are sourced in the mythological, spiritual, or folkloric backgrounds and creates new shelves to display them on. An important part of her opus includes animalistic motifs and ornaments of a geometric or floral type. By combining these elements, the artist creates situations of projected and imagined reality so that her works assume magical or surreal characterization. Hyunju Kim uses the potential of the artistic heritage of the Asian region as a reference field for her own work, primarily in a formal stylistic sense. Meticulously precise drawing, neutral background, absence of spatial depth, i.e. emphasized two-dimensionality, ornamentation of surfaces, and the application of various colors are important components of her artistic expression by which she creates imaginary scenes with enigmatic messages.

Damon Kowarsky and Hyunju Kim are artists whose life paths are intertwined but who, according to their own sensibilities, nurture individual artistic poetics and different artistic expressions. What they have in common is cultivated artistry, exceptional dedication to the creative act, and impeccable mastery of the demanding graphic technique of etching-aquatint in which all the works represented at the exhibition in Valjevo were created.

Milica Todorović, Art Historian

Complete Catalogue

Exhibition - Art + Travel

 

Solander Gallery New Zealand is pleased to present

Art + Travel - New and recent works by Damon Kowarsky

For more than twenty years Melbourne based Damon Kowarsky has travelled the world, making etchings and drawings inspired by the architecture and landscape of the places he has visited.

Art + Travel contains images of Serbia, Montenegro, Istanbul, Yemen, France, and Saudi Arabia, all made with his characteristic attention to detail and precise, analytical eye.

Exhibition continues June 14 to July 27.

Gallery hours Friday and Saturday 11 am to 3 pm and by appointment.

Solander Gallery

218 Willis St, Wellington, New Zealand

Omnia Art Prize

 

Delighted that three works made at Guanlan Original Printmaking Base and YAC Tianjin have been selected as finalists in this year's Omnia Art Prize.

The 2024 Omnia Art Prize winner will be announced on 24 May, and the exhibition continues until 26 May.

Opening Gala Friday 24 May from 7 to 10 pm
Saturday and Sunday 10 am to 4 pm

KC Smith Hall
St Kevin’s College
31 Moonga Rd
Toorak VIC 3142

Vision of Interaction in Anhui

 

Vision of Interaction - International Contemporary Printmaking Ecosystem opens in Anhui on 3 April 2024.

Anhui Provincial Art Museum
P85G+6F8, Baohe District, Hefei, Anhui, China, 230092

25X25X25 at Portland Bay Press

 

25X25X25 opens this week at Portland Bay Press and continues throughout April.

Gallery hours Monday to Friday 10am to 4pm
Saturday 10am to 1pm

Portland Bay Press / Julia Street Creative Space
19 Julia Street
Portland VIC 3305 Australia