Liminal

Curator

COLIN LANGRIDGE

Artists

RICHARD WASTELL

DAVID MARTIN

RICHARD GIBLETT

ANDREW DEWHURST

ALI SANDERSON

TODD MCMILLAN

THOMAS BACHLER

Date: 02-May-2008 – 08-Nov-2009

Location: VARIOUS TOURING LOCATIONS ACROSS AUSTRALIA

Liminal will consist of a mix of new work made in response to the brief and other already existing contemporary work identified as fitting the brief. The curatorial premise for this exhibition is to focus on the idea of the ‘limen’, which refers to the first stage or the threshold and indicates the least degree of stimulation that produces a response. This is when we have just become aware of a change in state. It is the space in-between where difference touches the familiar that opens us up to new possibilities.

This project presents a great opportunity to provoke interest from both the contemporary art world and the general public because it addresses a theme of interest to both groups. Members of the contemporary art world will presumably be intrigued to see how their colleagues have addressed this well-worn territory and to perhaps be inspired themselves to pursue other traditional genres in a contemporary manner.

Members of the public will find the subject accessible to their understanding of familiar themes for visual art and will hopefully be intrigued to see how contemporary artists have discovered aspects of the theme they hadn’t considered before. For the artists themselves I hope they will relish the opportunity to exhibit their work alongside other contemporary artists addressing similar themes. I also hope that the idea of the ‘limen’ will excite them to see their own work differently than they have done.

CURATOR’S STATEMENT:Liminal is a curated group exhibition that explores the concept of the space in-between definite categories of being. A common example of this is the daily rising and setting of the sun – a space in-between day and night. The exhibition takes on the challenge of this very popular and romantic theme in visual art by showing innovative approaches in contemporary art through various media, techniques and the shifting of emphasis/focus within the genre exemplified by the contrast between Caspar David Friedrich’s seminal paintings and the recent installation, Weather Project (2004), by Olafur Eliason in the Turbine Room at Britain’s Tate Modern.

I have identified a number of contemporary artists who have recently used images of the rising or setting sun in their work and will collect their artworks together for an exhibition that goes beyond the idea of that atmospheric subject as simply beautiful or symbolic of death or the afterlife and uses it to address more contemporary themes such as global warming. These artists are: Ali Sanderson (Vic), Andrew Dewhurst (Vic), David Martin (Tas), Richard Giblett (Vic), Richard Wastell (Tas), Thomas Bachler (Germany), Todd McMillan (NSW). Colin Langridge