CHRISTOPHER PEASE WELCOME TO COUNTRY
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CHRISTOPHER PEASE
WELCOME TO COUNTRY
Cover image: Christopher Pease Welcome to Country 2011, oil on linen, 152x220cm
In 1826, French explorer Jules Dumont d’Urville set out to circumnavigate the globe in the corvette l’Astrolabe. After months at sea, the crew sighted land on Australia’s southwest coast and anchored in a large sound (the current site of Albany, Western Australia) on October 15th. During a ten day stay on the island, the ship’s crew including artist Louis Auguste de Sainson, explored the surrounding area and had dealings with the Minang people. De Sainson produced a number of sketches documenting this chapter of the French expedition which were produced as a folio of lithographs in 1833. The paintings in Welcome to Country derive, in part, from de Sainson’s 19th century lithographs. Christopher Pease is a Minang/Nyoongar man with French ancestry dating back to this voyage. Though his practice is deeply embedded within the western tradition of oil on canvas painting, his Aboriginal heritage drives the themes within his work. Political and personal narratives are woven throughout Welcome to Country, commenting on the conflicts between ancient cultural practices and contemporary ideologies and the connections linking past to present. In doing so, they also express fundamental aspects of Aboriginal kinship and country. Geometric house floor plans float symbolically over carefully rendered scenes of traditional living in some of these works. Wall-paper designs developed from mother nature’s patterns within seeds and fruit hover above others. While the figurative elements evoke an emotional response, western motifs engage on a cerebral level, hinting at a deeper significance. Indeed, Pease’s ruminations on the imposition of western ideals on Aboriginal culture pose questions on the impact of modern living on rare ecosystems and the loss of traditional land on Australia’s southwest coast. Pease has consistently produced work which casts a contemporary gaze over 19th century accounts of history. His practice is widely recognised both here and abroad for its meticulous research and for the contribution it makes to reshaping the colonial narrative of events from the past.
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Emu Dance 2011, oil on linen, 153x101cm
Derived from a series of bust-portrait photographs taken in a Jarrah forest, the artist performs part of the emu dance with the natural-pigment body markings of his Great Uncle Les Hill. Dance was part of ceremony and celebration as well as being an important form of communication, to teach and pass on stories. Composed as a pixelated image, it references contemporary notions of digital storytelling while up close, the geometric pattern is abstracted, suggestive of colour swatches used in design.
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4 bedroom, 2 bathroom 2011, oil on linen, 73x110cm
The area west of Dunsborough through to Cape Naturaliste is a unique environment with an ecosystem not found anywhere else in the world. Amongst a forest of Marri and Jarrah, five Wardandi men perform in the emu dance. Hovering above is a floorplan of a new 4 bedroom, 2 bathroom house, typical of the pervasive residential developments which place pressure on native habitats in this area with little regard to the cultural and environmental history of Wardandi boodjar (country).
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Land Release 3 2011, oil on linen, 90x127cm
With a title which refers to a tract of land earmarked for development, silhouettes are all that remain of the Minang figures in de Sainson’s 1833 lithograph (p. 20), to express a loss of country and culture. The solitary female is covered in French indigenous apple-flower wallpaper referencing domestic chores which were enforced upon young Aboriginal girls as part of their assimilation into white society. The dominant wallpaper pattern is derived from a cross-section through Banksia seeds, like those made popular during the Victorian era.
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Open Plan Living 2011, oil on linen, 100x150cm
Open Plan Living juxtaposes traditional and contemporary interpretations of this concept. The source image is an 1833 lithograph by Louis Auguste de Sainson which depicts a group of Minang people cooking and eating lizards on a headland overlooking King George’s Sound. The overlaid wallpaper pattern is from the Red Eye Wattle; an Indigenous shrub found along the south-west coastline. The twisted pods open in late spring to reveal red seeds that can be crushed and used to make bread.
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Welcome to Country 2011, oil on linen, 152x220cm
Welcome to Country takes its cue from a small de Sainson lithograph (p.20) which depicts Dumont d´Urville and Messieur Guilbert at the Kangan River. Several species of native birds among the tea tree welcome the explorers to Minang country. The overlaid wallpaper design is inspired by early sketches of plants, in this case the French indigenous apple tree. Pease’s selection of fruit is deliberately provocative here, making biblical reference to the downfall of perfection of Aboriginal culture and the imposition of western religion.
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Meelup I 2012, Balga resin, Banksia Dallanneyi and mixed media on hessian on canvas, 180x120cm
Meelup (place of the rising moon) lies west of Dunsborough. These two works are made from Balga resin, a thick sap extracted from the Balga grass tree that is native to Meelup and found on higher areas of ground. Balga resin was an important binding agent in Aboriginal tool making and Pease has often employed this material as a painting medium, gathering it from the base of the tree. Embedded in these works are leaves of the Banksia Dallanneyi.
Meelup II 2012, Balga resin, Banksia Dallanneyi and mixed media on hessian on canvas, 180x120cm
Christopher Pease (Minang / Nyoongar) born 1969, Western Australia, lives Dunsborough, Western Australia
EDUCATION 1998
Graduate Diploma in Art & Design, Perth
SOLO EXHIBITIONS 2012 2009 2008 2005 2003 2000
Welcome to Country, Gallerysmith, Melbourne Christopher Pease, Goddard de Fiddes Gallery Christopher Pease – New Paintings, Goddard de Fiddes Gallery Christopher Pease, Goddard de Fiddes Gallery Christopher Pease, Goddard de Fiddes Gallery Christopher Pease, Goddard de Fiddes Gallery
GROUP EXHIBITIONS 2012 2011 2010 2009 2007 2006 2005 2004 2003 2002 Art 2001
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Australian Landscape: Present in the Now, Michael Reid Gallery, Berlin Murr-ma: Uncovering Aboriginal & Australian Contemporary Art, Berlin Noongar Country 2011, Bunbury Regional Art Gallery 17th Biennale of Sydney, Museum of Contemporary Art, Sydney Melbourne Art Fair, Melbourne Nyoongar Dreaming, City of Joondalup Gallery Western Australian Indigenous Art Awards, AGWA, Perth Culture Warriors, Katzen Centre, Washington DC First Indigenous Triennial, Culture Warriors, National Gallery of Australia Nyoongar Native Title, John Curtin Gallery, Perth Contemporary Nyoongar Painting, Goddard de Fiddes Gallery Gallery Artists Exhibition, Goddard de Fiddes Gallery Melbourne Art Fair, Goddard de Fiddes Gallery Right Here, Right Now, National Gallery of Australia Identity and Change, AGWA, Perth 22nd National Aboriginal & Torres Strait Islander Art Award, MAGNT Melbourne Art Fair, Goddard de Fiddes Gallery Works from the Collection, John Curtin Art Gallery Group show with Ben Pushman and Sandra Hill, Goddard de Fiddes Gallery. South West Central, Art Gallery of Western Australia 19th National Aboriginal & Torres Strait Islander Art Award, Museum & Gallery of the Northern Territory Mine Own Executioner, Mundaring Art Centre Wide Open, Lawrence Wilson Art Gallery
COMMISSIONS 2006 2004
Royal Netherlands Embassy Aboriginal Project Perth Convention Centre
AWARDS 2009 2002
Highly commended, Western Australia Indigenous Art Award, AGWA National Aboriginal & Torres Strait Islander Award, Prize for Painting
COLLECTIONS
National Gallery of Australia National Gallery of Victoria Art Gallery of Western Australia Queensland Art Gallery Parliament House Collection, Canberra Wesfarmers Collection Edith Cowan University, Perth Holmes a Court Collection Kerry Stokes Collection Australian Capital Equity Perth Convention Centre BHP Billiton Art Collection John Curtin University, Perth Murdoch University, Perth University of Queensland Art Museum City of Perth Perth Convention Centre Artbank Museum of Contemporary Aboriginal Art, Utrect, Netherlands
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Louis de Sainson (French, b.1801, d.1887), Vue de la Riviere des Francis, au port du Roi Georges. (View of the “Riviere des François”, near - St George’s Sound.) 1833, lithograph, printed in black ink, from one stone 33x49.4 cm, National Gallery of Australia, Canberra, Purchased 2005
Louis de Sainson (French, b.1801, d.1887), LANGLUME AND BOULANGER, Habitans du Port du Roi Georges (N’elle Hollande) 1833, coloured lithograph, 22.4x32.2cm, State Art Collection, Art Gallery of Western Australia, Purchased 1961
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