Leah Clarke
It is Spring Again
30 March - 14 April 2022
G1
Opening Night
Friday 1 April | 6pm – 8pm
◼︎
“It is spring again,” - is the first line in a Rainer Maria Rilke poem. Rilke believes in living in the questions. He suggests that life will show us the answers and that art is ostensibly the search without the intention of finding them. He’s a turn of century writer who wrote about the upheaval and fear of a new century much in the same way we struggle and lament with the turn of our century into late-stage capitalism and climatic destruction. By titling the work with a comma, it shows the kind of optimism that Rilke has in his work that we might not have the answer for climate change but we can continue to search for the questions.
The exhibition purposefully takes place in Autumn. The ironic contrast of Spring which represents the transition to new life juxtaposes the symbolism of Autumn that represents the transition to the empty sullenness of winter.
The catalyst of the project draws upon personal lived experiences of Leah's life through an autobiographical lens. This project examines the repercussions of the digital age, by reconstructing and traversing images from the family archives. Digital manipulation explores the impacts that have had on the environment that 25 years ago were hardly touched and now are unrecognisable.
About the artist
Leah Clarke (she/her) is an avid print-based artist moving between analogue and digital print works.
Leah was born on the Mornington Peninsula and much of her formative years spent on the beach has influenced her art greatly. She relocated to Melbourne for university. Leah originally started her tertiary studies at Swinburne in Communication Design but eventually decided to pursue Fine Art at RMIT instead. Leah is interested in the intersection between print-based art and design. Therefore, she has created a hybrid practice. Leah specialises in printmaking, illustration and print design. Her practice explores merging the traditional and contemporary print techniques within art and design. Leah's visual language is strongly influenced by activism and politics.
For Leah, speaking about the process of art is essential. Leah finds the machinations of digital art elicits a sense of freedom and she finds the process as important as the final product. It is an integral part of her work.
Colour is a foundational part of the process for Leah. Colour responds to the emotionality in her work and as such she uses colour to explore her feeling through a colour field construction.
Contact
Phone : (03) 9482 3550
mail@redgallery.com.au
Address
157 St Georges Rd
Fitzroy North, Victoria, 3068
Map
How to get here
Tram: route 11
Stop 21 just north of Edinburgh Gardens
Melway ref: 30B12
Parking in nearby streets
Bus: 504 (Reid Street)
