DOMINIK MERSCH GALLERY: LOCUST JONES 'SCREENSHOTS'

LOCUST JONES SCREENSHOTS 05.06 – 27.06.15

Artist Statement “The first thing I do when I wake up in the morning is turn on the radio, then the internet – Al Jazeera, followed by other world mass-media internet sites. I listen to stock market quotes, financial information, reports on who has died, what plane has crashed, what politician has been assassinated, what climate change disaster is coming, endangered species, nuclear accidents …

In the kitchen while I wait for my coffee to brew, I scribble down these facts and figures on the cupboard doors and walls. All this information is channelled into my drawings and paintings. I then go out and buy the current newspapers, as well as second-hand books and magazines from op shops.

Later while I work in the studio, I continue to listen to the radio or live streaming from Al Jazeera. I’m permanently plugged into the chaos of the day.

In a way, I interpret all I hear and see and make a picture of it in my head. This short-circuits into drawing. For example, in a recent work I’ve drawn red mountain shapes. A solitary airplane has clipped one of them with its wing and is going down. This is an interpretation of the Germanwings accident in the French Alps. In another current series of drawings I’m working with graphite powder and aquarelle pencils to illustrate screenshots of last year’s war in Gaza. It’s the contrast in the photographic images that I’m drawn to. I trawl the internet for pictures that have this contrast and depth and arrangement of figures. It has to be the right one for the picture I’m making.

I rely on a few things for this to happen: the photographic image combined with the power this image instils and how it makes me feel – the resonance and consciousness it sparks, the outrage or disbelief it provokes.

I was recently reading an Al Jazeera article in bed at night on my iPhone about the fourth anniversary of the Syrian Civil War. In a picture accompanying the article were two women running away from their house that had just been barrel-bombed. One woman had a head wound and blood was streaming down her face. But it wasn’t this that shocked me – it was the look of horror and pathos in her eyes. It was so powerful that it made me get out of bed, go to the studio and draw.

It’s the same with some graphite powder drawings I’m making at the moment. There is a scene with three Hamas militia members wearing black balaclavas. They are leading three suspected Israeli collaborators in hooded attire to a place of execution. Equally, when I watched a John Pilger documentary about the Carlyle Group and the connections to insider trading, Halliburton, Bechtel, Dick Cheney, George W. Bush and the ‘war on terror’, it moved me to enter the studio, rip a five-metre length of paper, staple it to the wall and start writing in a stream of consciousness in pencil and graphite. The work was called Surge til the end, a direct response to the documentary: the surge of United States military to the war in Iraq; extracts from the Qur’an …

Just now I’m making works on the ‘Bali Nine’ pair being shot by firing squad, and using pictures from executions by ISIL and Boko Haram for imagery. In this way, the information I process and use in my work directly references what is happening in the world.

Locust Jones, June 2015

GRAPHITE WORKS

INK WORKS

CERAMIC WORKS

GRAPHITE WORKS

Noising up’, 2015, Graphite on paper, 136 x 156 cm, framed, $9,500

‘Days Away’, 2015, Graphite on paper, 136 x 156 cm, framed, $9,500

‘In our time’, 2015, Graphite on paper, 136 x 156 cm, framed, $9,500

U.T., 2015’, Graphite on paper, 136 x 156 cm, framed, $9,500

U.T., 2015’, Graphite on paper, 75 x 95 cm, framed, $5,600

U.T., 2015’, Graphite on paper, 75 x 95 cm, framed, $5,600

Terms of sale: 10% deposit on reservation. Balance on collection. Prices as of June 2015. All prices listed may change without notice. All prices include GST.

INK WORKS ‘The long walk’, 2015, Ink, pigment, pencil and oil stick on paper, 92 x 133 cm, , framed, $6,900

‘The long walk’, 2015, Ink, pigment, pencil and oil stick on paper, 78 x 114 cm , framed, $6,900

‘It just keeps on spinning’, 2015, Ink on paper, 92 x 133 cm, framed, $6,900

‘A week in the life III’, 2015, Ink on paper, 92 x 133 cm, framed, $6,900

‘Homs’, 2015, Ink on paper, 78 x114 cm cm, framed, $5,600

‘A week in the life IV’, 2015, Ink on paper, 78 x 114 cm, frames, $6,900

‘Places at war’, 2015, Ink on paper, ca. 68 x 68 cm, framed, $4,200

Convert pay tax or leave’, 2015, Ink on paper, 86 x 86 cm , framed, $4,900

‘Screen shot - Yazhidi’s ’, 2015, Ink on paper, 86 x 86 cm , framed, $4,900

‘The long walk’, 2015, Ink, pigment, pencil and oil stick on paper, 152 x 1000 cm, $44,000

Terms of sale: 10% deposit on reservation. Balance on collection. Prices as of June 2015. All prices listed may change without notice. All prices include GST.

CERAMIC WORKS

CERAMIC WORKS

SOLO EXHIBITIONS

2015 Screenshots Dominik Mersch Gallery Sydney A week in the life of the world, Blue Mountains Art gallery Katoomba New South Wales Brainfog, Karen Woodbury gallery, Melbourne Victoria 2014 Burn Freeze, David Krut Projects, NY, USA Made in Johannesburg, Solander, Wellington, NZ Lifters and Leaners,, Bett Gallery, Hobart, Aus Descent into the mass media maelstrom, Galerie Patrick Ebensperger, Berlin, Germany 2013 24HR News Feed, Christchurch Art Gallery, Christchurch, New Zealand Steep Descent, Dominik Mersch Gallery, Sydney, Australia 2012 Boycott, Isolate, Sabotage, Whitespace, Auckland, New Zealand Some mistakes were perhaps made, Bathurst Regional Art Gallery, New South Wales 2011 Asia one, Hong Kong art fair for Dominik Mersch Gallery.

Revolt, Dominik Mersch Gallery, Sydney 2010 Mediated By The Media, White Space, Auckland, New Zealand Lozenge of dawn, 24Hr Art, Darwin, Australia Elevating a disastrous situation into a catastrophe, MOP Projects, Sydney, Australia Untitled, Karen Woodbury Gallery, Melbourne, Australia 2009 HitchHiking in the Donut of Death, Gallery 9, Sydney, Australia Back-Handed Bullets Whitespace, Auckland, New Zealand Ride it ‘til it dies Rear View, Melbourne 2008 I’ll Burn that bridge when I come to it Until Never, Melbourne, Australia Final Notice Centre of Contemporary Art, Christc hurch, N.Z. The Bird Agents Tin Sheds Gallery, University of Sydney, Sydney, Australia 2007 Clearing Station Centre of Contemporary Art, Christchurch, New Zealand 2006 Spin Cycle Sakshi Gallery, Mumbai, India 2005 Live by the Sword Mahara Gallery, Wellington, New Zealand 2004 Poverty Jet Set Espace SD Gallerie, Beirut, Lebanon Amnesia Beyrouth Riviera Gallery, Brooklyn, New York

GROUP EXHIBITIONS (selected)

2015 Burnie Print Prize, Burnie Regional Gallery,Tasmania Modern art projects at Everglades, Leura, NSW Giving voice, Touring exhibiRon, Gosford Regional Gallery Galerie Patrick Ebensperger, Vienna, Austria 2014 Open Studio 18th Street Arts Centre, California, USA Jacaranda Drawing Award, Gra]on, Regional Gallery NSW Fremantle Print Award, Fremantle, WA Redlands Art Award, Sydney, Aus Giving Voice, Salamanca Arts Centre, Hobart, Tas Nature Nurture, Karen Woodbury Gallery A General Map of caves, Hawkesbury Regional Art Gallery, Sydney, Aus 2013 Galerie Patrick Ebensperger, Berlin, Germany Down to the line, Bea Gallery, Hobart, Australia Fremantle Print Award, Fremantle, WA Unsealed, Recent acquisiRons of Australian Contemporary art, Art Gallery of South Australia Fauveae Laurio Travelling Art Scholarship, SCA, Sydney University, Aus 2012 The Lookout, NaRonal Art School Gallery, Sydney ExcavaRon, The Armory, Sydney Olympic Park, Sydney Drawing the line, Whitespace, Auckland, New Zealand Through your eyes, Korean Cultural FoundaRon, Sydney 2011 5 x 3, Kunstraum Dusseldorf, Germany Sub Text, Carriageworks, Sydney, Australia 2010 FreeHand, Museum of Modern Art, Heide, Victoria, Australia Navigators, Karen Woodbury Gallery, Melbourne, Australia No right turn, Penrith Regional Gallery & The Lewers Bequest, Sydney, Australia 2009 I Walk The Line New Australian Drawing, Museum of Contemporary Art, Sydney, Australia SMAC Awards, GBK, Sydney, Australia The wriaen word in contemporary art, Karen Woodbury Gallery, Melbourne, Australia The June Fourth Incident, Serial Space, Sydney. Something I said Helen Gory Gallery, Melbourne, Australia 2008 888ExhibiRon, China Heights Gallery, Sydney 2007 Riviera Real Estate, Riviera Gallery, Brooklyn, New York 2005 Diversity 1, Sulkin Secant Gallery, Santa Monica, California 1999 Sydney Beirut -­‐ Beirut Sydney Espace SD Gallery, Beirut, Lebanon

AWARDS/PRIZES/RESIDENCIES 2015 Burnie print award, Burnie,Tasmania 2014 18th Street Art Centre, Santa Monica, California Kulturwerk, Berlin, Germany Artist Residence Big C, Bilpin, NSW Australia Australia Council for the arts - New Work Grant Lancaster Press, Melbourne, Vic Fremantle Print Award, Finalist, WA 2013 Finalist, Fremantle Print Award, Fremantle, WA Jacaranda Drawing Award, Finalist, Grafton Regional Gallery 2012 Artist Residence, David Krut Projects, Johannesburg, South Africa Wallace Art Awards, Auckland, New Zealand National works on paper prize, MPRG, Victoria Paul Guest Award, Bendigo Art Gallery, Victoria Alice Springs Art Prize, Finalist Winner Fishers Ghost art award, Campbelltown Art Gallery Acquired-Kedumba contemporary drawing award, Wentworth Falls, 2011, 2012 Adelaide Perry Prize for Drawing, Finalist. Hill End Artist Residency. Hazelhurst Works on paper award, finalist 2010 Winner, National Contemporary Art Award, New Zealand. Royal Bank Of Scotland Art Award, finalist.

Asialink residency, Changdong Artist Studio, Seoul, South Korea. The Paul Guest Drawing Award, finalist.

Noosa Regional gallery 3D Art prize, finalist. Sunshine coast art prize, finalist. Artist in Residency.

Penrith Regional gallery. Stanthorpe Art Festival award, finalist 2009 Winner of the Hazelhurst works on paper award. Fishers Ghost Art Prize, finalist Blake prize for Religious art, finalist. Geelong Print Prize, finalist. Fremantle Print Award, finalist 2008 Kedumba drawing award, finalist. Fremantle print award, finalist 2007 Hazelhurst works on paper award, finalist 2005 Hazelhurst works on paper award, finalist. Fremantle print award, finalist 2004 Artist in Residence, Espace SD Gallerie, Beirut, Lebanon 2003 Lower East Side Print Workshop Residency, New York

 PUBLIC COLLECTIONS Art Gallery of South Australia Art Bank, Australia Kedumba contemporary drawing collection, Australia Bathurst Regional Art Gallery University of Wollongong, Australia Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade, New Zealand James Wallace Trust, Auckland, New Zealand National Gallery of Australia National Gallery of Victoria Mornington Peninsula Regional Gallery Kunstwerk Museum, Collection of Peter W. and Alison Klein, Stuttgart/Eberdingen, Germany.

Tweed River Regional gallery Sydney University Grafton Regional Gallery Shepparton Art Museum, Victoria, Aus  PRESS 2014 Holding up a mirror to society, Hobart Mercury, july 19, Clyde Selby The Age, In the galleries by Dan Rule, Feb 22 Printeresting, New York, Review of Burn Freeze at David Krut Projects, April 2013 Christchurch Art Gallery Bulletin Magazine, Sept-Nov, by Felicity Milburn 2012 Sydney Magazine, SMH, August Financial Review New Zealand Herald, by Tj Mcnamara 2011 Art Profile issue 15, Australian Art Collector, Jan-Feb. Art Nation, ABC Television 2010 June/July edition of Art in America- Review by Roger Boyce 2009 In the name of art, rub out the drawing board, Andrew Frost for Sydney Morning Herald On their marks, get set, go, John Mcdonald for Sydney Morning Herald ABC Sunday Arts, interview with Fenella Kernebone Exhibition Review Wellington, Catherine Macdonald writer for Imprint Magazine Pulp friction, Tracey Clement for The Sydney Morning Herald 2007 Large-scale comment on life, Jamie Hanton for The Christchurch Press NZ The end is nigh - Locust Jones draws a world slowly going to hell. Tracey Clement for Sydney Morning Herald

LOCUST JONES SCREENSHOTS Enquiries: info@dominikmerschgallery.com