GILES ALEXANDER | OUR FATHER IS A RED GIANT | ONLINE CATALOGUE by MARTIN BROWNE CONTEMPORARY

GILES ALEXANDER

OUR FATHER IS A RED GIANT

GILES ALEXANDER OUR FATHER IS A RED GIANT 25 July - 18 August 2013

MARTIN BROWNE CONTEMPORARY 15 HAMPDEN STREET PADDINGTON NSW 2021 TEL: 02 9331 7997 FAX: 02 9331 7050 info@martinbrownecontemporary.com www.martinbrownecontemporary.com GALLERY HOURS: TUESDAY - SUNDAY 10:30AM - 6PM

© Martin Browne Contemporary © All images copyright Giles Alexander This catalogue is copyright. Apart from any fair dealing for the purposes of private study, research, criticism or review as permitted under the Copyright Act, no part may be reproduced by any process without written permission. COMPILER: Hilary Perrett COLOUR SEPARATIONS: Spitting Image, Sydney PRINTING: Southern Colour, Sydney Cover Image: Our Father is a Red Giant, 2013, oil and resin on linen, 213 x 239 cm

LIST OF WORKS Our Father is a Red Giant, 2013, oil and resin on linen, 213 x 239 cm Easter Uncertainty Principle, 2013, oil, ink and resin on aluminium, 105 x 65 cm Sun’s Son, 2013, oil, ink and resin on aluminium, 105 x 65 cm Planck’s Pegasus, 2013, oil, ink and resin on aluminium, 105 x 65 cm Marble Multiverse, 2013, oil, ink and resin on aluminium, 105 x 65 cm Cosmological Chimera, 2013, oil, ink and resin on aluminium, 105 x 65 cm Quantum Vespers, 2013, oil, ink and resin on aluminium, 105 x 65 cm Theocratic String Theory, 2013, oil, ink and resin on aluminium, 105 x 65 cm Willendorf Wavefunction Collapse, 2013, oil, ink and resin on aluminium, 105 x 65 cm Chakra (dark) Energy, 2013, oil, ink and resin on aluminium, 105 x 65 cm Lady Of All Women’s One And Only Solar Mass, 2013, oil in and resin on aluminium, 105 x 65 cm

GILES ALEXANDER | OUR FATHER IS A RED GIANT

A familiar conceit of abstract art is that a painting offers a vision of the cosmos – as if the artist had their own version of the Hubble telescope. Art and science converge in the urge to explore the limits of experience; the limits of what can be perceived by our senses and articulated in our language. Those explorations have obvious practical constraints but there are no boundaries for what can be achieved in the imagination. Every cosmic overview is really an interior journey into the mind of the artist. This same productive ambiguity may be found in Giles Alexander’s precise, illusionistic paintings of the cosmos. His topic could not be larger, being the origins of human life. The theory referred to in the title of this exhibition is that our bodies have their origins in the dust generated when a star dies. The light from a star comes from turning hydrogen into helium. According to Wikipedia, as a star exhausts its core supplies of hydrogen it switches to “thermonuclear fusion of hydrogen in a shell surrounding the core.” This is when a Red Giant – the subject of the major picture in this exhibition – is formed. Such a star has a relatively low surface temperature but may have a diameter 20 to 100 times larger than our own Sun. The process of thermonuclear fusion generates elements such as carbon, oxygen and beryllium, in which are found the building blocks of life. Little by little these elements made their way to earth, where the unknown chemistry took place that turned raw substances into sentient beings. We are still so far from understanding this crucial transformation that it is no surprise that most people prefer to believe that life on this planet was created by one god or another. The faces of those deities are shown floating in the infinite blackness of space in Alexander’s paintings, from the lantern-jawed Mo’ai of Easter Island to the gods of the Egyptians, the Greeks and the Aztecs. The thin white lines that ‘join the dots’ in these works refer to our habit of seeking patterns in the stars – discerning the outlines of animals or mythical heroes. Around the edges we see clusters of radio telescopes, the instruments used by astronomers to probe the mysteries of the universe. This suggests that while the means and belief systems are completely different, science and religion are engaged in the same quest. The questions posed echo the title of Gauguin’s famous painting of 1897: Where Do We Come From? What Are We? Where Are We Going? Whether it be a vista of the Tahitians and their idols or Alexander’s fantasias of deep space, the artist is perfectly placed to act as a commentator on this search for meaning. There are artists who engage with science and those who see their work in spiritual terms, but Alexander is neither of the above, being sceptical of the relgious viewpoint but equally wary of claims of science. These works demonstrate that one can engage with a subject in the most intense fashion without ever becoming a believer. John McDonald July 2013

Left: Easter Uncertainty Principle, 2013, oil, ink and resin on aluminium, 105 x 65 cm Right: Sunâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Son, 2013, oil, ink and resin on aluminium, 105 x 65 cm

Left: Planckâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Pegasus, 2013, oil, ink and resin on aluminium, 105 x 65 cm Right: Marble Multiverse, 2013, oil, ink and resin on aluminium, 105 x 65 cm

Left: Cosmological Chimera, 2013, oil, ink and resin on aluminium, 105 x 65 cm Right: Quantum Vespers, 2013, oil, ink and resin on aluminium, 105 x 65 cm

Left: Theocratic String Theory, 2013, oil, ink and resin on aluminium, 105 x 65 cm Right: Willendorf Wavefunction Collapse, 2013, oil, ink and resin on aluminium, 105 x 65 cm

Left: Chakra (dark) Energy, 2013, oil, ink and resin on aluminium, 105 x 65 cm Right: Lady Of All Womenâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s One And Only Solar Mass, 2013, oil in and resin on aluminium, 105 x 65 cm

Our Father is a Red Giant, 2013, oil and resin on linen, 213 x 239 cm

GILES ALEXANDER Born London, U.K. 1975 EDUCATION 2010- MFA, National Art School, Sydney (pending) 2009- Lecturer, Painting/Drawing, National Art School, Sydney 2006 1st Class Honours (Painting), National Art School, Sydney 2005 BFA (Painting), National Art School, Sydney 1999 Diploma in Mixed Media, St Martins School of Art, UK 1998 Diploma in Graphic Design, Kentish Town College, UK 1995 First year BFA, 3D Design & Photography, Coventry University, UK 1994 Diploma Art Foundation, Epping Forest College, UK SOLO EXHIBITIONS 2013 2012 2012 2011 2010 2010 2009 2008 2007 2007 2002

Our Father is a Red Giant, Martin Browne Contemporary, Sydney e=mc2?, The Fine Art Society, London, UK Know Thyself, Peter Walker Fine Art, Adelaide The Goldilocks Region, GRANTPIRRIE, Sydney Reproduction, Dianne Tanzer Gallery, Melbourne Spacetime, Peter Walker Fine Art, Adelaide Smoke’n’Mirrors, Kristian Pithie Gallery, Melbourne Neon Bible, Mori Gallery, Sydney Engineering Consent, Mori Gallery, Sydney Reverence, Mori Gallery, Sydney Survey, The Labor Club, Sydney

SELECTED GROUP EXHIBITIONS (Continued) 2009 2009 2009 2009 2008 2008 2008 2008 2007 2007 2007 2007 2007 2006 2006

Australia Now, Comodaa Gallery, Covent Garden, London, UK Same Same but Different, Kristian Pithie Gallery, Melbourne Innocence, Lorraine Pilgrim, QLD Drawcard 09, NAS Gallery, Sydney Smithfields 140th Anniversary, Guild Hall, London, UK Carteret Islands, Mori Gallery, Sydney Memento Mori, blkmrkt, QLD Drawcard 08, NAS Gallery, Sydney Simply The Best, Lorraine Pilgrim, QLD Greens Fundraiser, Mori Gallery, Sydney Solomon Fundraiser, Royal Australian Institute Architects, Sydney Reverentia, Lorraine Pilgrim, QLD Group Exhibition, Mori Gallery, Sydney Drawcard 06, National Art School, Sydney Art Sydney 06, Hordern Pavilion, Sydney

COLLECTIONS Australian National University Artbank London Guildhall Art Gallery MCQ International Private collections in Australia, UK, Europe, USA and Singapore

SELECTED GROUP EXHIBITIONS

AWARDS, SCHOLARSHIPS AND RESIDENCIES

2013 2013 2013 2013 2013 2013 2012 2012 2012 2012 2012 2012 2011 2011 2011 2011 2011 2010 2010 2010 2010 2010 2009

2012 2012 2010 2010 2010 2009 2009 2009 2008 2007 2007 2006 2006 2006 2006 2005 2005 2005 2004 2004 2004 1988

What Duchamp Taught Me, The Fine Art Society, London, UK (forthcoming) Archibald Prize, Art Gallery of New South Wales, Sydney Sulman Prize, Art Gallery of New South Wales, Sydney Art13, The Fine Art Society, London, UK Art London, The Fine Art Society, London, UK The Collectors Show, curated by Natalia Bradshaw, Art Month Autumn Show, The Fine Art Society, Hong Kong Spring Group Exhibition, Martin Browne Contemporary, Sydney The British Cut, The Fine Art Society, Hong Kong Signal 8, Cat Street Gallery, Hong Kong London Art Fair, The Fine Art Society, London, UK Hong Kong Art Fair, Cat Street Gallery, Hong Kong Step09, Milan Art Fair, Blackartprojects, Milan, Italy (re)vision, Lake Macquarie City Art Gallery, NSW ‘100,’ BlackArtProjects, Melbourne Archibald Prize, Art Gallery of New South Wales, Sydney Wattle, Cat Street Gallery, Hong Kong Art London, Comodaa Gallery, London, UK Archibald Prize, Art Gallery of New South Wales, Sydney Lost in Painting, Dianne Tanzer gallery, Melbourne Hong Kong Art Fair, Cat Street Gallery, Hong Kong NOTFAIR, curated by Sam Leach & Ash Crawford, Melbourne Extropian, Sullivan & Strumpf, curated by Sam Leach, Sydney

Moran Prize, Sydney, finalist Fleurieu Art Prize, Adelaide, finalist Arkley Award, Melbourne, finalist Moran Prize, NSW State Library, finalist RBS Emerging Artist Award, Sydney, finalist Works held in stock, Haunch of Venison Gallery, NY, USA Duke Prize, Brisbane, finalist Wardlow Residency, Melbourne Duke Prize, Brisbane, finalist Duke Prize, Brisbane, finalist Metro 5 Prize, Melbourne, 1st Prize Paddington Art Prize, Marlene Antico Fine Arts, Sydney, finalist Art On The Rocks, Sydney, highly commended Blake Prize, Touring Exhibition, NSW, ACT, VIC, QLD, finalist R & M McGivern Art Prize, Maroondah Art Gallery, VIC, finalist Murray Sime Painting Prize, National Art School, Sydney, 1st Prize MCQ International Art Prize, MCA Sydney, 1st Prize Drawing Week, National Art School, Sydney, 1st Prize John Olsen Drawing Prize, Sydney, highly commended National Art School, Sydney, awarded advanced standing Propeller 04, People’s Choice Award, Sydney Bishops Stortford College, U.K. Art Scholarship (5 years)

Giles Alexander, 2013