Celia Gullett, Variations series XXXI, 2021, oil on panel, 50X30cms. Image courtesy the artist. Heather Burness, Dipole 1, multiplate colour intaglio print, edition of 2, 2023. 80.2 x 95cm. Image courtesy the artist.
3 July 2024
SECCA (South East Centre for Contemporary Art) will launch two new, original exhibitions on Saturday 13 July at 12pm.
Australian artist, Heather Burness’ latest exhibition – A Time of Concentration – showcases her innovative print-based processes, drawings and web-based photography.
“Now a Bega Valley resident, Burness has works in the collections of Australian regional galleries, the State Library of New South Wales, the National Library of Australia and the National Gallery of Australia,” Acting Gallery Director, Jasmin Brown said.
“Her plates capture the marks of transient micro events such as the flow of water, mist, low-lying clouds, fog, shorelines, groundwater, rivers, soils, atmospheric conditions, and the meeting of fresh and saltwater. These later become printing surfaces for works-on-paper in her studio.
“Burness is influenced and guided by Indigenous knowledge and history, western scientific thinking and the aesthetic concerns of abstraction.
“Her work intricately explores ephemeral phenomena and the experience of ‘place,’ engaging with diverse environments both in Australia and abroad through unique in-field process-based installations.”
Shaping Colour features Sydney-based painter, Celia Gullett whose work is influenced by art-historical movements, including abstraction, colour field painting, minimalism and ancient Asian philosophies.
Gullett says everything she does is centred on colour and surface. Visible depths in the paint are created by layering and reduction, to evoke a sense of diffused light and the crystallisation of experience into paint.
“The tension in this process, between the repetitious brushstroke and layering to create optical complexity, is the touchstone of Gullett’s studio practice,” Ms Brown said.
Entry to the launch on Saturday 13 July is free and will feature guest Sydney-based artist, Jude Rae.
Heather Burness: A Time of Concentration is on at the SECCA Chambers Gallery from 29 June to 11 September.
Celia Gullett: Shaping Colour is on at the SECCA Gallery 1 from 13 July to 18 September.
SECCA is open Monday to Friday from 10am to 5pm and Saturdays 10am to 1pm. Closed Sundays and public holidays.
