The 2007 Anne & Gordon Samstag
International Visual Arts Scholarships
Artist: KIRRA JAMISON
Cultivating Morris 2005
acrylic on canvas
192 x 122 cm
© the artist
Deer and Me 2006
acrylic on Poly cotton
120 x 100 cm
© the artist
By blending human and animal in her paintings, Kirra Jamison creates mythical creatures. Her work is lyrical and mysterious, often omitting facial features and other details, allowing passages of paint to perform their traditional magic by taking form in the viewer’s imagination.
The physical reality of the painted surface is strongly emphasised by the loose, dripping brushwork. This is in distinct contrast to photographic techniques that allow viewers to overlook the process of representation and imagine that the content itself is real. She exploits the ability of the decorative in art to liberate the imagination of both artist and viewer in ways that are not possible in precise depictions. The animal/human hybrids introduce shamanistic elements, and seem to offer primitivism as an antidote to the sense of detachment that comes with experiencing the world second-hand through the mass-media. These hybrids address the contemporary condition directly, and the artist describes them as reflecting the way life in the twenty-first century unfolds against a background of image-overload. Far from turning her back on the elaborate interconnectedness created by the digital revolution, Jamison actually illustrates the model that Gilles Deleuze and Félix Guattari have proposed for it: the rhizome.
Timothy Morell
from his Samstag catalogue essay;
Loose connections
| Born 1982, Sydney, New South Wales | ||
| 2006 | Bachelor of Fine Art (Honours), Queensland College of Art, Griffith University, Brisbane | |
| Awards | 2007 | Anne & Gordon Samstag International Visual Arts Scholarship |
| 2006 | Griffith University Honours Equity Scholarship for academic excellence | |
| 2005 | Griffith Award for academic excellence | |
| Individual Exhibitions | 2006 | Pretty Faults & Petty Concerns, Ryan Renshaw Contemporary Australian and International Art, Brisbane |
| Selected Group Exhibitions | 2006 | Art for Arts Sake, The Powerhouse, Brisbane An Artists Dozen, New Farm Art Stockroom, Brisbane Extract: Environments Real and Imagined, Metro Arts, Brisbane Fresh Cut, Institute of Modern Art, Brisbane Young Brisbane Artists, Gallery 419, Brisbane |
| 2005 | Brush Markings, Departure Lounge, Burleigh Heads | |
| 2002 | Walking the Street, Newtown Arts Festival, Sydney
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