ROD GRAY
the stone citadel
oil on linen
2024
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the citadel
opens at Parslow Street Studios April 6th from 5pm
1 Parslow Street Clifton Hill
this body of work has formed during pursuit of more medieval pictorial space. this work – the stone citadel – is a culmination of these considerations
copious drawings and several study-like paintings have lead to this layered approach to a composition
During 2023, which was a busy year for me, I exhibited this work – deluge – in an exhibition with Climarte at their gallery in Richmond, Melbourne
The exhibition was looking at the economics of climate change. I had made a small painting which I proposed doing a larger version of this being the result.
I was looking at images from the floods in northern New South Wales that followed after fires. and had seen a photo of a flooded house on fire which seemed particularly stark
Grotto [ no. 3 ] : Source
oil on canvas
240 x 240 mm
2022
In partnership with Satellite Projects the window display on Victoria Parade will become a trio of grottoes
Featuring works from the cave and grotto suites from 2022
The works are available for sale via the Satellite Projects website
brattlings
acrylic on paper
760 x 560
2020-22
This work ‘ brattlings ‘ is included in a group show opening on November 2nd 6 -8 PM
CLIMARTE gallery 120 Bridge Road Richmond All Welcome
go to CLIMARTE for more details
Vanishing: once enchanting: achingly beautiful homes to millions of species: rich carbon sinks: lungs of the planet: symbols of our unconscious since forever: beyond critically endangered keys to life on Earth – FORESTS.
The invaluable role that forests play in the Earth’s vital ecosystems is beyond question. Forests need defending like our lives depend on them.
This exhibition maps Australia’s critically endangered forests, honours the communities protecting them and invites new defenders.
With works by Karena Goldfinch, Rod Gray, Pia Johnson, Steve Kuiter, Lucille Martin, Sarah McConnell, Julian Meehan, Jill Redwood, Lisa Roberts, Chris Taylor and Sarah Rees.
Creative Producer, Karena Goldfinch.
Exhibition details:
Where: CLIMARTE Gallery 120 Bridge Rd, Richmond
When: 2 to 26 November 2022
Opening event: 2 November, 6pm to 8pm
The exhibition will be officially opened by Dr Chris Taylor, renowned photographer and Research Fellow at the Fenner School of Environment and Society, Australian National University.
Associated event:
5 November, 1pm – a public event welcoming children and parents from the Abbotsford Early Learning Centre in conversation with Creative Producer and participating artist Karena Goldfinch and President of Friends of Leadbeater’s Possum, Steve Meacher.
FORESTS: The Last Stand was made possible thanks to grants from The Australia Council for the Arts and the City of Yarra.
My recent painting ‘domain’ has been selected for inclusion in CLIMARTE’S new exhibition TREE.
The show will be officially opened on Tuesday 11 October by Professor David Karoly.
CLIMARTE asked artists to create works that honour and advocate for Melbourne’s trees, inspired by the City of Melbourne program Urban Forest Visual.
This extraordinary collection of 25 selected works is being exhibited at the FortyFiveDownstairs Gallery.
Opening night 11th October at 6.00pm at FortyFiveDownstairs @ 45 Flinders Lane, Melbourne. The exhibition runs until 22 October 2022. Gallery hours are
domain
ink, pure pigment and acrylic paint on paper
120 x 60 cm
2022
Float-mounted behind art glass in a painted recycled-timber frame
Original painting was sold to a private collector through CLIMARTE
Limited edition prints of ‘domain’ available
A liveable climate needs trees and trees need a liveable climate.
CLIMARTE’s TREE project was conceived through musing and imagining the multitudes of multispecies connections, interdependencies and communications in the urban environment – in the context of the Climate Emergency and the City of Melbourne’s world leading Urban Forest Strategy .
Imagine if the countless non-human life forms that inhabit Melbourne could also express their appreciation for all the incredible gifts (oxygen, habitats, shade, comfort and so on) that the City of Melbourne’s now 80,000+ beloved local trees provide day in day out?
Imagine what the trees themselves would say about being exposed to a climate and biodiversity emergency?
Conversely, The Urban Forest Strategy enables people to email the trees. Since the program launched in 2013, Melbourne’s trees have received thousands of love letters from humans near and far.
Featuring 25 artworks (also for sale), TREE presents work from Katherine Boland, Michelle Burns, Olga Dziemidowicz, Erica Elgin, Ariella Friend, Janice Gobey, Rod Gray, Lauren Guymer, Robbie Harmsworth, Zoé Haynes-Smith, Heather Hesterman, Bridget Hillebrand, Kathy Holowko & Sarah Moore, Todd Johnson, Linda Judge, Martin King, Susie Lachal, Nancy Lliang, Jan McLellan Rizzo, Zahra Marsous, Jarrad Martyn, Julia Schmitt, Benedict Sibley, Charlotte Watson and Barbara Wheeler.
International performance artist Dr Angela Viola will lead a participatory performance and workshop on 15th October 1pm to 3pm in Treasury Gardens, near Spring St and Flinders Lane.
[If the weather is wet the performance will be delayed to the next Saturday 22nd of October 1 to 3pm. Check Climarte’s social media for details.]
Submissions were assessed by a panel composed of Tim Entwisle, Director and Chief Executive of Royal Botanic Gardens Victoria, Councillor Jamal Hakim, portfolio lead for Creative Melbourne and deputy portfolio lead for City Activation and Health, Wellbeing and Belonging, Guy Abrahams, CLIMARTE Co-Founder and Ambassador, and two CLIMARTE Committee Members.
As part of the Big Anxiety Festival, TREE will host a special workshop Towards an Ecological Self: Mapping Our Relations with Trees on 15 October in collaboration with Psychology for a Safe Climate, Sydney Environment Institute, and the Knowledge Translation Strategic Platform of Maridulu Budyari Gumal SPHERE.
This is JupiterShot, a collage I’ve made in the gallery during the Ash exhibition. I draw and paint in such a layered and painstaking way that sometimes it completely blasts the mainframe of my consciousness to make some direct collage. This work is part of The Book of Fire which you will see more of over time on this site or my instagram
This work prefigured a return to drawing for me and seemed to trigger an analysis of the whole september 11 event which was being memorialised at the time.
CrashTest was a breakthrough painting exhibited in ASH at Space 39 in 2017. The flattening of the picture plane, the primary colours and the viewpoint all opened out the paint surface and felt utterly unique in my work process up to that point.
