AMIEL COURTIN-WILSON
TRYING TO COAX A LION OUT OF MY CHEST
Non-profit curator-run arts initiative Utopian Slumps is pleased to announce the opening of 'Trying to Coax a Lion out of my Chest' by Amiel Courtin-Wilson from 6 - 9pm on Friday 31 July 2009.
Amiel Courtin-Wilson is an acclaimed filmmaker whose multi-award winning feature documentaries 'Chasing Buddha' (2000), 'Bastardy' (Nominated Best Documentary AFI Awards 2009) and short films 'On the Other Ocean' (2005) 'Cicada' (2008) have screened at major international film festivals, including Sundance and Cannes.
He has exhibited his video installation work internationally and lectured at institutions, conferences and festivals including the University of California Los Angeles, VCA, RMIT, AFTRS and the Australian International Documentary Conference. Exhibition highlights include 'I thought I knew but I was wrong - New Video from Australia' which toured the Asia-Pacific region 2004-2005 (ACMI in association with Asialink, co-curated by Alexie Glass and Sarah Tutton), 'All my friends are diseased' at Seventh Gallery, 2005; 'Australian Culture Now' at ACMI, curated by Rhys Graham, 2004; and 'Formal Explorations' at Seventh Gallery, curated by Rebecca Cannon, 2001.
After working across documentary, drama and video installation, Amiel started drawing in 2004 to purge the daily static from his brain. Amiel's automatic, reductive ink drawings are an attempt to exorcise the palpable semi-articulated joy, sorrow and regret that sit somewhere in the centre of his body. They represent an unbearably dense accumulation of coal, bright light, horror and ecstasy, and offer an alternative insight into the filmmaker's perception of the visual world.
Trying to Coax a Lion out of my Chest will present Amiel's first solo exhibition.
