Withdrawing as the principal medium, the exhibited works evoke distinctive ways of seeing and making sense of the world. For some, it recreates a physical environment, grounded in a deep connection to place or country. For others, it is an invention that springs forth from history, memory and the imagination.

Exhibition curator and Art Gallery of NSW curator of Australian art Anne Ryan said the exhibited works evoke distinctive ways of seeing and making sense of the world. “Real Worlds brings together the work of eight artists who seek to interpret and comprehend the world through subjective reinvention via drawing. For some, it is grounded in a deep connection to place or Country. For others, it is a reinvention that springs forth from imagination and the subconscious, inflected by subjective experience and rich with narrative suggestion,” said Ryan.

“The immediacy and intimacy of drawing is particularly attuned to the urgency of our times, and the work of each of these artists reflects the human capacity to imagine something better, or different. “The real world can be reckoned with, be re-seen, be understood anew, as we face its mercurial challenges. While conceived before our wild year of 2020, and created both before and during it, the drawings of Real Worlds speak with urgency and directness to where we are now.”

The exhibited artists are Martin Bell, Matt Coyle, Nathan Hawkes, Danie Mellor, Peter Mungkuri, Becc Ország, Jack Stahel, and Helen Wright.

Featured image : Becc Ország
‘Fantasy of virtue’ / All things and nothing 2018
graphite pencil and 24 kt gold leaf on Fabriano watercolour paper in custom wood frame, 86 x 169 cm
Collection of the artist © Becc Ország