Exhibitions May 2012

FUTURE NOW
An annual award exhibition for VCA honours graduates
opening reception Thursday May 31, 6-8pm
May 31 - June 24 ZOE CROGGON GEORGINA CUE CATHERINE EVANS INEZ DE VEGA NORIKO NAKAMURA DARREN MUNCE RENUKA RAJIV		image: Zoe Croggon, Arms Outstretched, 2012, collage
PAST.... Exhibitions May 3 – May 27 CITY’S NEW RUINS Curated by DAVEY WARNOCK ALISON BENNETT DOMINIC KAVANAGH LLAWELLA LEWIS ANNA MARIA O’KEEFFE Featuring work by Alison Bennett, Dominic Kavanagh, Llawella Lewis and Anna Maria O’Keeffe, the City’s New Ruins engages the concept of the ruin in the modern city. The exhibition presents a series of works that imitate and abstract the form, texture and meaning in the abandoned warehouses, storm ravaged suburban dwellings and decaying sites of industry which are so familiar a part of the modern city. Employing the history of ruin, neglect and rebirth that is apparent on the Substation’s own surface, the exhibition seeks to highlight the irony in our attitudes towards modern buildings that have fallen into decay where they are read simultaneously as dispensable, unattractive scars on the landscape and cultural relics worth saving for their historical importance as much as for their unique visual aesthetic.
RICHARD BUTLER BOWDON AUSTRAL> <AFRIC : The New Extension Richard BB presents a series of painted portrait studies of people of African origin now residing in Melbourne. This exhibition is a further extension of one presented at artist-run-space First Floor Gallery Harare in Zimbabwe in 2011. These works examine and reflect concepts such as the key altermodernist principle of cultural hybridity, human adaptation and the phenomena of global African diasporas. In a purely visual context and with a subtext of positive discrimination this exhibition represents and supports individual members of Australia's more visible and recent immigration wave.
MELANIE SCAIFE LUMINOSITY Edges blur, shapes soften, colours fade: night has fallen and the day’s bright certainties retreat into the inky darkness of night. This is the terrain of Luminosity, an exhibition of paintings by Williamstown artist Melanie Scaife who finds within the depths of the west’s nocturnal landscape a place of ambiguity, subtlety and mystery where, paradoxically, everything is illuminated.
John R NEESON SUBSTATION LIGHT John R Neeson will work on site for the duration of this installation project, painting from observation aspects of the interior of Gallery 5 at various times of the day. He will do this by referring to reflections in mirrors placed at various positions in the space. The public has access to the space while the work is in progress and are invited to interact with the mirrors, the paintings, the space and the artist. SUBSTATION LIGHT inverts many of the conventions associated with the exhibition of paintings. The project is venue specific and referential; it is complete on the last day of the 'exhibition'. Painting takes on aspects of performance, and, studio and gallery become one. Follow the development of the work by visiting the space or www.johnrneeson.com