Adriane Strampp’s work Observer Observed has been selected for the 2012 Adelaide Perry Prize for Drawing, judged by Sydney art critic John McDonald.

Observer observed 2011 charcoal on paper 66 x 105 cm

Adelaide Perry Gallery
The Croydon Centre for Art
Presbyterian Ladies’ College, Sydney
Boundary St
Croydon
NSW 2132

Observer observed is one of several drawings produced during a residency at Sydney’s Taronga Zoo in 2011. The subject is Birani, a Malayan Tapir who resides there.

My work has always been concerned with the connection between strength and fragility, the tangible and the intangible, and the presence of absence. From the early dress paintings of the 1980’s through to the current animal works I have explored that which remains ‘in absentia’: the body from the dresses, the gaze from the animal. In looking at us the animals remain ‘in absentia’. Rarely does their gaze meet ours directly. In the desire for a reciprocal gaze we project our own emotions and interpretations, however the animals look beyond us and through us as we the observers seek momentary connection. Instead our projections are mirrored back to us, and their gaze reminds us of our imposition on their world.

The drawing has several ‘ghost’ images of the animal in the act of walking and is a reference to Muybridge’s photographs. The use of multiple movements echoes the shift of looking and being looked at. The observer observed.

Adriane Strampp January 2012

Adriane Strampp’s work Lost Worlds has been selected for the 2011 Fisher’s Ghost Art Award, Campbelltown NSW.

Lost Worlds 2011 oil on linen, 76 x 102 cm

Campbelltown Arts Centre
Cnr Camden and Appin Roads
Campbelltown NSW 2560

Curated by Jenny Lam, Exquisite Corpse is an independently run art show that features works across all media—illustration, photography, animatronics and pillow-making… and everything in between—by 40 artists from Chicago, New York, Boston, Philadelphia, Minneapolis, Amsterdam, and Melbourne. Arranged into groups and pairs, these artists—most of whom were strangers to one another before this project—were given one month to create new art, with no limitations or rules other than to work together. Some groups adhered to the exquisite corpse tradition, while others redefined the very idea of collaboration.

Melbourne artists Adriane Strampp, Irene Wellm and Kirsten Perry have put together a drawing, each working on their section without having seen the other artists section, until the work was completed.

Wellm, Perry, Strampp 2011
Ink, pen and charcoal on paper 76 x 56 cm

Exquisite Corpse is located on the second floor of:

Fulton Street Collective
2000 W. Fulton St.
Chicago, IL 60612
847.942.8956

The University Gallery is delighted to be able to present another exciting exhibition for ZOO AiR 2011 in conjunction with the Taronga Foundation. Now in its eleventh year, the TarongaFoundation has been committed to preserving and conserving endangered species both through zoo-based programs and in the animals’ native habitats.

The work generated through the Artists in Residence program this year will be on exhibition at the University Gallery from 20 July until 13 August. Donated works will then be exhibited at the Byron Kennedy Hall in Sydney’s Entertainment Quarter, Moore Park, from Friday 19 August until Sunday 21 August. The auction, by Bonhams Australia, will be held on the afternoon of Sunday 21 August with all proceeds supporting the Taronga Foundation’s conservation projects.

For information visit www.taronga.org/art

Zoo AiR 2011

Taronga Zoo AiR 2011 artists

Adriane Strampp’s Choeropsis liberiensis has been short-listed for the 2011 Hazelhurst Art Award, to be exhibited at the Hazelhurst Regional Gallery & Arts Centre.

Hazelhurst Regional Gallery
782 Kingsway
Gymea
NSW 2227

Exhibition dates: July 8 to August 14 2011
9.30am – 4.30pm

The City of Yarra has acquired the drawing Hare II by Adriane Strampp for its Contemporary Art Collection. Hare II was recently exhibited in Five Miles from the Sea at Victoria University.

Over 150 artworks were submitted by 80 artists from which nineteen works were chosen.

Hare II 2010 charcoal on Arches paper 76 x 56 cm 20101

Artspace
Level 17
Victoria University
Melbourne 3000

Five Miles from the Sea is a group show curated by Geoff Tolchard.

Five Miles from the Sea is a look at the incursion (Five miles from the Sea) of non-indigenous Australians and their resulting mark on the land. Whether it is the erosion of the land or the erosion of the quarter acre block, how are we shaping and living in the hinterland? Who lives five miles from the sea? What does it look like though the eyes of ten diverse artists, some from different parts of the globe, who have indeed made Australia their home?

Hare II 2010
charcoal on Arches paper 76 x 56 cm

Adriane Strampp : Artist Statement

In considering the impact of European settlement in Australia, one of the most invasive and damaging migrants (other than European man), is the rabbit.

Although originally arriving with the First Fleet in1788, it was Thomas Austin, formerly of Somerset, who is held historically responsible for the spread of rabbits when he released 24 rabbits and 5 hares at his property Barwon Park, near Geelong in 1859.

A lack of predators and mild winters provided an ideal climate for year-round breeding and by the 1900’s the feral rabbit population had reached plague proportions across Australia. Despite the rabbits’ devastating impact on native flora and the environment, the introduction of foxes as a remedy only worsened the situation as the foxes found indigenous birds and marsupials easier prey. In 1907 the infamous rabbit-proof fence was built in WA, a futile attempt to control the spread of rabbits, and later in 1950 Myxomatosis was introduced, causing a slow and painful death that ultimately the rabbits became immune to.

In 1863 the Acclimatisation Society of Victoria set up on Phillip Island a breeding colony for hares sent from London by the Zoological Society. Although introduced at the same time as rabbits, hares had less of an impact on the environment being slower to breed and non-burrowing, and their spread was limited to the more temperate climate of South-Eastern Australia.

This work is from a series of recent drawings titled The Animal Gaze, examining the fragile relationship between animals and the human race. The hare stares back at the viewer, a symbol of strength and vulnerability, segregation and marginalisation. We are both migrants to this land and the animal gaze serves to remind us equally of our imposition on their world.

The Victorian Acclimatisation Society was founded in 1861 in order to introduce European plants and animals in order to make the alien environment economically productive, and to feel more like home. It folded 11 years later as the extent their damage was realised. (Source: Museum Victoria)

Dianne Tanzer Gallery + Projects 2 – 23 April 2011
108 – 110 Gertrude Street Fitzroy VIC 3065

Opening hours:
Mon – Fri 10am – 5pm
Sat 12pm – 5pm

Adriane Strampp Tapirus indicus charcoal on Fabriano paper
105 x 225 cm

Adriane Strampp Choeropsis liberiensis 2011 charcoal on Fabriano paper 105 x 225 cm

Adriane Strampp Geochelone gigantea 2011 charcoal on Fabriano paper
105 x 150 cm

Hares, horses and stags have long featured in Strampp’s work, images of the hunted and the haunted, symbols of both strength and vulnerability. In conjunction with Strampp’s 2011 residency at Sydney’s Taronga Zoo, Erlösung: The Animal Gaze is a project drawing exhibition that considers the animal gaze, and the relationship between the observer and the observed.

The animals in this exhibition are not cute; rather they are solid, monumental creatures drawn life-size, yet paradoxically they remain fragile and exposed. Their wary gaze regards us, guarded and measured, and they remain ‘in absentia’. In our desire for connection we long for our gaze to be returned, but as they look through or past us our projections are mirrored back, only to remind us of our imposition on their world.

Adriane Strampp Apprehension ii 2010 charcoal on Arches paper 76 x 56 cm

Adriane Strampp has been invited to join Taronga Zoo‘s Artists in Residence program in 2011.

Overlooking Sydney Harbour, Taronga Zoo began the Artists in Residence program in 2009. Artists begin the residency with an overnight stay at the Zoo’s Roar and Snore campsite, meeting the keepers and their charges, exploring the Zoo after dark, sleeping in luxury tents and feeding the animals in the morning. Artists are provided with a special pass to visit and work as much as they wish over a three-month period, including access before opening hours.

Artists participating donate a work created during the residency to help raise funds for the Taronga Foundation’s ongoing conservation endeavours.

Adriane Strampp Hare (In memory of Marcus) charcoal, pencil and graphite on Arches paper 76 x 56 cm

Adriane Strampp’s work Hare (In memory of Marcus) 2010 has been acquired for the Kedumba Collection of Contemporary Australian Drawings.

Adriane Stampp
19. Hare (In memory of Marcus)

“An iconic, enigmatic work that reminds me of the enquiry that Durer was capable of. The artist placed the hare in a believable space without rendering a background. Placing all the importance on the animal itself.”

Speech by Peter Sharp
Judge of the Kedumba Drawing Award 2010

Blue Mountains Grammar School,
Wentworth Falls,
NSW

31 October – 30 November 2010