Matthew McVeigh Rm1
Emma Jolley Rm2
Opening 15 Nov 2019
Exhibition continues until 21 November
Room 1: Matthew McVeigh - ‘Surveyed’
The works presented here have been created out of frequent visits to the North West of Australia, predominantly on Bunyjima, Yinhawangka and Wangkamaya country, as well as other coastal Pilbara sites near Karratha, Port Hedland and Marble Bar. The pieces were created by employing technical drawing and graphing techniques used for industrial geological surveying of Precambrian terrains. The artworks have then been painted with fire and acrylic along with ochre gifted to the artist by traditional landowners from these areas as an acknowledgement of their custodianship and to extend a three-way dialogue between the geological, cultural, and economic values of land.
Matthew McVeigh is a Western Australian interdisciplinary artist interested in how identities, histories, and institutions can be consumed and subsumed through the vehicle of art making. His practice is highly collaborative and employs a wide range of materials, processes, technologies, and semiotics to create work that is often bold whilst layered with nuance and meaning. Since completing a degree in Performance Design (2008), at the Western Australian Academy of Performing Arts, McVeigh has designed sets for the Black Swan State Theatre Company, Barking Gecko Theatre, Steamworks Arts, the West Australian Ballet, Spare Parts Puppet Theatre, Deckchair Theatre, WA Youth Theatre Company, Yirra Yaakin Theatre Company, Lark Chamber Opera, Ochre Contemporary Dance Company, and Lost and Found Opera as well as a number of independent dancers. He has been an assistant designer on productions for the Australian Ballet, the Victorian Opera, and Big hART. Through his visual artworks, McVeigh is represented in private and public collections throughout Australia and internationally, including at the Art Gallery of Western Australia, Holmes à Court Collection, University of Western Australia, City of Joondalup, City of Perth, Perth College, Shire of Ashburton, and Keizo Ushio (Japan).
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Room 2: Emma Jolley - ‘All The Small Things’
This exhibition privileges All The Small Things that happen in an artist’s studio. It exposes processes of making including material testing, conceptual experiments & maquettes that are rarely seen by anyone other than the artist. Small scale resolved works, one offs & rarely seen artworks find a place within this exhibition, instead of merely existing as peripheral works to a project or idea. Many of the works in All The Small Things are the beginnings of an idea, line of inquiry or the start of something much larger and for these reasons are some of my most treasured works. A large time frame is covered in the exhibition, spanning from 2007 to present day, showing consistent themes and interests occurring throughout.
Print, Painting, Drawing & Collage are the main medias used in the work shown, as well as tests & manipulations of various medias and materials.
Emma Jolley is an artist who lives and works in Perth, Western Australia. Predominantly based in printmedia, Jolley's practice also encompasses collage, painting, drawing and photography. Jolley completed her Bachelor of Art with Honours in 2009 at Curtin University & went on to complete a residency with Trevor Bly at Megalo Print Studio & Gallery in Canberra in 2010. She has had two solo shows at OK Gallery, Perth in 2011 & 2013 & been involved in numerous group exhibitions thereafter. Most recently, her work was featured in ‘Father Daughter’ at Seventh Gallery, Melbourne in 2018 & Locale at Heathcote Museum & Gallery, Perth, 2017. Jolley’s work is held in numerous private collections & in the City of Fremantle art collection. Drawing from personal and observed experiences, Jolley’s work attempts to articulate various facets of the suburban condition as it plays out within Western Australia.