spaces between 11 August – 11 september

Chris Charteris’ working process increasingly relies on his instincts. This involves letting go of the control he usually exercises, experimenting a lot with textures and contrasts, and exploring ways to achieve new results. An important part of his creative process has always been to stretch himself to find an edge where there is new energy, innovation and impact. The forms he creates reflect the reciprocity of the artist/medium relationship. 

‘Spaces between’ explores this artist/medium reciprocal relationship at another level. Here the navigation of spaces between, around and within each sculpture are integral to how the sculptures relate to each other, to their environment and to their creator. 

In this respect what Chris is trying to achieve can be compared with assemblage artists including Rosaline Gascoigne, Robert Rauschenberg and Marcel Duchamp or sculptors Henry Moore and Jean Arp. Their art was similarly inspired by the creation of the spaces between objects, the negative space, or their juxtaposition. Describing the underlying purpose of her assemblages of found objects and materials Gascoigne said " I am trying to create air. This is something very hard to do".

"To reach into the past he must travel, metaphorically, through air. To begin with, the air is unshaped. There is an eternity in the air, a feeling that a new metaphor is born, yet among all the meanings there is also a need to say: I can modernize that. Charteris has done that, as only a master can do with reverence, feeling and respect." - John Pule

For Chris the past we inherit is a gift nurturing the beginning of life from which we can draw and create new life. The past is steeped in imagery and meaning which Chris draws upon for his sculpture as a loosely structured innovation. It is a lifeline to what he creates now, giving shape, energy and inspiration to his ideas and motivation to make art.

August 2008

 

Beyond the Image

19 December 2009 - 20 January 2010

Darryn George and Noel Ivanoff combine their trajectory with works that  defy image retention . Their work is not predicated on image but on the experience. The experience is either evoked through line and process or through colour and plane. In contrast, Laurence Aberhart, Chris Charteris, Simon Kaan, Kelcy Taratoa and Ben Webb use the image to evoke experience beyond the defining image.