RY HASKINGS
BACKTRACK AKA CATCHFIRE
OPENING FRIDAY 19 JUNE 6 - 9PM
EXHIBITION SAT 20 JUNE UNTIL SAT 4 JULY
Ry Haskings' Backtrack (aka Catchfire) will present a collection of colour pencil drawings in pyramid-form frames, hung within an abstract wall painting.
The drawings reference the film poster for Denis Hopper's 'Backtrack' (aka 'Catchfire') without the text, an image of Soren Kierkegaard's 'Grave in a Park', four portraits of self help book writers in a composition appropriated from the Human League 'Dare' album cover, and an abstract drawing of a shiny tuba.
The work relates to recent discoveries made by the artist through research and conversation. The subject matter was gathered through objects or facts that were found to coincidentally connect or that were discovered via similar methods of research. To illustrate, the self-help author portraits relate to the mention of the authors' names in a book that Ry's father gave him called How mumbo jumbo conquered the world. He recently quizzed Ry skeptically about postmodernism at the football at half time which the artist later realised was a result of similar skepticism of postmodernism by the author in the book. The work also relates to Ry's most recent exhibition 'Agitation Free' at RMIT Project Space, consisting drawings of life coaches and reflecting the artist's own subtle skepticism.
The abstract wall painting that will incorporate the strangely framed drawings will form the result of an ongoing study of magic number squares. The painting will present an inquiry into the compositions that can be created when assigned a particular colour and composition formula to the numbers and the construction of the magic number square.
The artist's connection between abstract and figurative drawings allows a broad interpretation due to their contrast, organised randomness, possible contradiction and awkwardness.
Melbourne-based Ry Haskings has been a member of Damp collaborative art group since 2001 and is current lecturer in Art History and Professional Practice at Swinburne TAFE. He completed a BFA at the Victorian College of the Arts (Hons) in 2000. Recent solo exhibitions include 'Magnolia Caboose Baby Finger', Ocular Lab, 2008; 'World Stab', Bus Gallery, 2006 and 'Give me Head' in collaboration with Lisa Radford, ETW, Kyoto, Japan, 2004. Selected group exhibitions include 'Agitation Free', RMIT Project Space, 2009; 'Flux Capacitor', Utopian Slumps, 2008; 'Revolving Doors', Uplands, 2008 and 'All in an afternoon', Monash Faculty Gallery, Monash University, 2007.
