From Andrew Frost…
Among the things we like most about Artexpress – the annual exhibition of the previous year’s Higher School Certificate art works – is the undoubted sincerity of the young artists. The art works are made from the heart and given the long gestation of the creation of each piece, from the research and process diaries that the students are obliged to produce, along with the final works themselves, the whole process is akin to the kinds of studio research conducted by tertiary students. But where many student art works can suffer from an overly ambitious conceptual gambit, Artexpress art works are refreshingly modest and all the more successful because of it. Accompanied by artist’s statements and on the Art Gallery of NSW’s website examples of the process diary and connections to historical works in the collection, the Artexpress experience offers a genuine insight into the intentions of the artists and the possible future of contemporary art.
The 2015 exhibition acquits itself admirably representing many of the most popular and accessible contemporary mediums, from painting, drawing and sculpture through to drawing to video, photography and printmaking. What’s surprising as always is just how vigorously the students embrace these forms. Among the 37 works on display highlights include Elly Carantino‘s video work My Only Enemy is Time which explores the artist’s grandfather’s experience of old age, Gorges Auiter‘s Hidden Beneath a multi panel abstract that references the work of Albert Rafols-Casamada and George Raftopoulos, and Georgia Brier‘s Caught in a Daydream a literal but effective photo media treatment of altered states of perception.
Until April 19
Art Gallery of NSW, The Domain
Pic: MaGeorgia Briers, Caught in a daydream, 2014.
