Plastic
Plastic is an exhibition exploring the artists role in moulding the relationships between fiction and reality in contemporary painting practice. Curated by Anna Louise Richardson and showcasing the work of Western Australian artists Caspar Fairhall, David George Ledger and Ian Williams this exhibition centres on the intersection between formal aspirations of landscape painting and the ubiquity of screen-based imagery.
Caspar Fairhall, David George Ledger and Ian Williams explore shared interests in alternative perceptions of spatial qualities in the landscape and built environment, discussing the impact of contemporary digital culture on equal terms with reality. The curatorial premise of Plastic focuses on digital imagery within the broader ecology of spatial painting practice and the clean aesthetic concerns of the contemporary ‘picturesque’. The title, Plastic reflects the malleability of the artist’s hand in shaping reality, the fluidity of paint, and the flexibility of the artist to adapt to their environment and embrace digitisation. Drawing on the sculptural definition of the ‘plastic arts’, Plastic appropriates this term for the painter and their capacity to manipulate the physical world into a 2D substrate. Plastic brings together a body of works that reflect an ongoing investigation into the flexible role of remediated imagery in representing, simulating or creating realities. Unpacking the relationships between digital media and the physics of perception in painting Caspar Fairhall, David George Ledger and Ian Williams demonstrate the integration of the real and virtual, discarding any distinction between fact and fiction.
Caspar Fairhall, David George Ledger and Ian Williams explore shared interests in alternative perceptions of spatial qualities in the landscape and built environment, discussing the impact of contemporary digital culture on equal terms with reality. The curatorial premise of Plastic focuses on digital imagery within the broader ecology of spatial painting practice and the clean aesthetic concerns of the contemporary ‘picturesque’. The title, Plastic reflects the malleability of the artist’s hand in shaping reality, the fluidity of paint, and the flexibility of the artist to adapt to their environment and embrace digitisation. Drawing on the sculptural definition of the ‘plastic arts’, Plastic appropriates this term for the painter and their capacity to manipulate the physical world into a 2D substrate. Plastic brings together a body of works that reflect an ongoing investigation into the flexible role of remediated imagery in representing, simulating or creating realities. Unpacking the relationships between digital media and the physics of perception in painting Caspar Fairhall, David George Ledger and Ian Williams demonstrate the integration of the real and virtual, discarding any distinction between fact and fiction.
David George Ledger is an emerging Western Australian artist whose practice is focused on engaging with ideas of virtual space and place. Much of his work has been an engagement with the representation of space in painting and its parallels in the architectural spaces of video games and film. The idea of a ‘paracosm’, an alternative, imagined world is central to his engagement in art making. Ledger uses painting and drawing as a way of engaging with this imagined space. Since completing a BA (Art) at Curtin University in 2010, Ledger has produced two solo exhibitions of paintings in Perth in 2011 and 2013, he has also participated multiple group exhibitions including the 2013 Bunbury Biennale. Ledger's work is held by the City of Joondalup (WA), the Horn Collection (WA) and other private collections in Australia and overseas.
Ian Williams’ practice is an exploration of experience and familiarity within virtual environments, and how the screen operates as both a window and a barrier, separating the illusion from the physical world. Working directly from live video games, Williams investigates the photographic believability within these spaces while being mindful of their simplistic origins. He engages with the ‘en plein air’ landscape painting tradition, but rather than working outdoors in a paddock, Williams uses the computer screen as his window into an alternate landscape. Williams graduated from the Central Institute of Technology (CIT) in 2011 with an Advanced Diploma in Visual Arts, and in 2013 completed a Bachelor of Arts at Curtin University. He has work in public and private collections in Australia and overseas, including the Curtin University and CIT collections. Williams is a finalist in the 2015 Bankwest Contemporary Art Prize (Perth) and the Macquarie Group Emerging Artists Prize (Sydney) and is currently based at Gotham Studios.
Caspar Fairhall works across various media, from painting to video and interactive art. His work is largely concerned with the relationship between the ways in which we represent space and time in images and the ways in which we think about space and time more generally. In 2012, Fairhall completed his Master of Fine Arts at the University of New South Wales; he also won the Cossack Art Award that year and took part in a residency in the Pilbara region in 2013. Both the Pilbara experience and his Masters research are central to Fairhall's recent work. Fairhall's work is represented in the collections of the Art Gallery of Western Australia, The University of Western Australia, Edith Cowan University, Chamber of Commerce and Industry, KPMG and BankWest.
Photography: Docqment. Courtesy of the artists.
Plastic is supported by the Government of Western Australia Department of Culture and the Arts.