Slipstream - Russell Craig

Sunday 3 November – Sunday 8 December 2013 Redland Art Gallery, Cleveland Opening event 6pm Friday 1 November 2013 Floor Talk 12noon Sunday 3 November 2013

Russell Craig’s Slipstream, inspired by his travels or appreciation of the sea, refers to concepts of rhythm, motion and natural erosion. The works act as a symbolic metaphor for Craig’s own personal journey of travelling in the slipstream of those that have gone before.

Slipstream: Recent drawings

by Russell Craig “...the past is in us, and not behind us. Things are

early sense that this could be his artistic signature. And

— Tim Winton, The Turning, Picador (Australia), 2004

acknowledgement of what has gone before evokes what

never over.”

In Russell Craig’s drawings a wealth of experiences,

so it has become. Yet within the drawing tradition the may follow.

influences, ideas and concepts is brought together in

While a multiplicity of styles within drawn and print media

their origins. His Indelible current becomes a boating

at Redcliffe Regional Art Gallery (2011), drawing and

bow and driftwood rendering the detail of the stern. It is

remains his touchstone. At this stage in his life, to explore

a series of vignettes that invite the viewer to explore

craft with tiny Buddhas as a patterned crevice within the a craft that describes an evolving aspect of Craig’s life journey, with shadowy depths developing a sculptural

feel. His use of charcoal and drawn media acknowledges the iconic tradition of drawing within the history of art

generally and his own mentors and influences specifically.

He remembers Victor Majzner’s encouragement of

his drawing at Caulfield Tech in the 1970s and his own

was included in his 30 year survey titled Altered States

the graphic tradition, its dramatic shadows and tonality,

diverse interests in travel, mortality, the environment and

spirituality, it was drawing in charcoal to which he returned.

Water, a flashpoint for anyone living in Brisbane in recent years, given long periods of drought intersected with

flood, is a central theme in these works collectively titled

Slipstream. Autobiographical elements are brought to

bear – Craig has been a surfer since he was a boy, and

“So often the random configuration of objects and scenes within my work are suggestive of the serendipitous nature of issues thrown to you in everyday life.”

Russell Craig 2013

long term visitation to Stradbroke Island, spending time in

the water, he acknowledges as personally powerful and

“the most beautiful time in nature you can imagine”1.

In Shape of things to come, a series of surfboard-like

shapes is dominated by a woven cane trap, and he

notes, “I like the idea of using the sea craft shape as a

metaphor not only for moving through water but also my

life”. Each of these works is constructed from a series of images that are drawn and then married together, with

their juxtapositions as important as their unity. Drawings

are united as one work around issues, concepts and

aesthetics. In the final process, the merge of a series of

Yokohama Rain, 2013 includes memories of rain in Japan, droplets cascading over horizontals, united with an

eroded surface from Morocco and historic layers captured from Venice, a city both defined and threatened by water.

The spiritual qualities of water and its importance to the health of the body and of the planet are encompassed

in this unique series of vignettes. They see Craig in a

reflective place offering up evocative details to draw the

eye into a journey that is at once his and ours within the continuum that contains a life.

Louise Martin-Chew 7 October 2013

drawings on sheets of paper into one, they are changed.

Aesthetic unity is paramount with compositional balancing and gestural expressive possibilities overriding other considerations.

1

Phone conversation with the author, 5 October 2013.

Acknowledgements Russell Craig would like to thank the following individuals and institutions for their valued contribution to this exhibition project:

Official opening – Dr. Anne Kirker Catalogue essay – Louise Martin-Chew Redland City Council and Redland Art Gallery Stephanie Lindquist Director

Redland Art Gallery Amy Wilson

Exhibitions and Public Programs Officer Redland Art Gallery

ISBN: 978-0-9923678-0-0 Designed by Stephen Kolesaric at Liveworm Studio

Images (left to right): (on cover) Russell Craig, Shape of things to come 2013, charcoal on BFK Rives, 80 x 364 cm (detail). (top) Russell Craig, Yokohama rain 2013, charcoal on BFK Rives, 80 x 486 cm

(bottom left) Russell Craig, Shape of things to come 2013, charcoal on BFK Rives, 80 x 364 cm

(bottom right) Russell Craig, Indelible current 2013, charcoal on BFK Rives , 80 x 364 cm

Redland Art Gallery is an initiative of Redland City Council, dedicated to the late Eddie Santagiuliana

Redland art Gallery, Cleveland Cnr Middle and Bloomfield Streets, Cleveland Q 4163

Monday to Friday 9am – 4pm

Sunday 9am – 2pm Admission free

Tel: (07) 3829 8899 or Email: gallery@redland.qld.gov.au www.more2redlands.com.au/ArtGallery