Spring 1883: 2019

11 - 14 Sep 2019

THIS IS NO FANTASY
SPRING 1883
The Establishment Hotel, Sydney
Suite 36

THIS IS NO FANTASY is excited to be exhibiting at Spring 1883 for the first time, showing new works by new gallery artists Alexandra Standen and Simon Degroot.

Both artists explore their relationships to physical and emotional spaces in their work. Their practices are process driven, reflecting their highly refined skill sets with a nod to art history and a pared back, modernistic aesthetic. Standen works in ceramic, embracing the sense of unease that comes with engaging with a medium that holds a functional quality yet has a connotation of being fragile and precarious in nature.

Degroot explores a personal relationship with a legacy of abstracted modernist forms in his new work. Inherited details from painting, graphic design and architecture are combined and overlaid in a process of masking and painting. These compound shapes and abstract painted details create a material connection to art history and an intimacy with shared legacies.

Both these young artists come with impressive CV’s. Standen recently returned from Paris as the recipient of the prestigious Cite Internationale des Arts Residency and was previously Winner of the Sidney Myer Award for Ceramics. Degroot was awarded his PhD from Griffith University in 2018. He has been awarded the Moreton Bay Art Award twice, in 2018 and 2015 and has completed numerous large scale murals.