make your fridays matter with a well-read weekend

make your fridays matter

Ryan Presley brings ‘Fresh Hell’ to Adelaide and Melbourne
Ryan Presley, The Dunes (How good is Australia) (2021), oil, synthetic gold and 23k gold leaf on poly-cotton, 364 x 152 cm (Diptych)
Image: Courtesy the artist and Milani Gallery, Brisbane
8
News

Ryan Presley brings ‘Fresh Hell’ to Adelaide and Melbourne

The art exhibition, curated by Adelaide Contemporary Experimental and Gertrude gallery, presents thirteen iconographic paintings by visual artist Ryan Presley.

by Almas Sadique
Published on : Oct 10, 2022

A series of iconographic portraitures—of the victims and perpetrators of power, violence and dominion—by Australian artist Ryan Presley, is currently on view at Adelaide Contemporary Experimental (ACE), an art gallery in Adelaide, Australia. The exposition, titled Fresh Hell, will also be presented at Gertrude art gallery in Melbourne. Presley's work deals with themes of power and dominion and attempts to paint stories based on his upbringing and experiences in a Catholic environment. This is his first major solo exhibition straddled across two locations in Australia. While the Adelaide presentation is on view from September 3 to October 29, 2022, the Melbourne leg will remain open to the public from February 11 to March 26, 2023. “Fresh Hell is my largest and most ambitious show to date. I began working on the project at the end of 2019, a few months before the pandemic and then solidly over the following two years,” adds Presley, who has the indigenous Australian Marri Ngarr heritage.

Ryan Presley, Crown Land (till the ends of the earth) (2020), oil, synthetic gold and 23k gold leaf on polyester 182 x 152 cm. Collection of the National Gallery of Victoria
Ryan Presley, Crown Land (till the ends of the earth) (2020), oil, synthetic gold and 23k gold leaf on polyester 182 x 152 cm. Collection of the National Gallery of Victoria Image: Courtesy of the artist and Milani Gallery, Brisbane

Presley’s paintings, mostly diptychs and triptychs, make use of oil paint and gold leaf. The entrancing themes of power, religion and colonialism are presented through a series of characters moving through labyrinths, cathedrals, chambers and archways. These are architectural scenographies and elements lifted by the contemporary artist from traditional scapes and folklore, and warped by him to create ethereal sceneries. ‘Fresh Hell’ is a term usually used to refer to a perpetually bad situation, a damned age. In contrast to the alluring and powerful landscape painted by Presley, a melancholic tale unfolds, delineating the miseries that always trail structures constructed within imbalanced systems.

Ryan Presley, Aeronautics (what goes up must come down) (2020), oil, synthetic gold and 23k gold leaf on poly-cotton, 182 x 152 cm. Collection of Artbank, Sydney/Melbourne
Ryan Presley, Aeronautics (what goes up must come down) (2020), oil, synthetic gold and 23k gold leaf on poly-cotton, 182 x 152 cm. Collection of Artbank, Sydney/Melbourne Image: Courtesy of the artist and Milani Gallery, Brisbane

Fresh Hell is created by exhibition designer Cherie Schweitzer, who has extensively worked in the fine arts industry. He composes and places Presley’s triptychs and diptychs in a manner that offers a hypnotic experience. “I'm so grateful to have this opportunity to share my work at an institution like ACE, with the wonderful audiences of Adelaide. I'm incredibly excited to see the full scope of work together in a custom installation, and I'm hoping that people visiting the show will feel the warmth, power, love and horror of the combined artworks,” says the visual artist.

Ryan Presley, One day this will all be yours (2022), oil, synthetic gold and 23k gold leaf on poly-cotton, 182 x 152 cm
Ryan Presley, One day this will all be yours (2022), oil, synthetic gold and 23k gold leaf on poly-cotton, 182 x 152 cm Image: Courtesy the artist and Milani Gallery, Brisbane

The art exhibition comprises ten new paintings and three existing ones. Created as a re-interpretation of older paintings that reflect religious iconography, Presley’s contemporary artworks invoke multilineal themes. The hyper-realistic imagery of animate and kinetic characters against a flat landscape associated with pre-Renaissance paintings communicates the link between and coexistence of the past and the present. An ubiquitous inoculation of red in all his works subtly hints towards the ravages caused by all-pervasive power structures, across borders, times and technologies. “Ryan Presley’s paintings elegantly embody a compelling, quietly incensed re-appraisal of difficult histories. Presley offers much to urgent national and international conversations concerning Indigenous sovereignty. It is an honour to present Presley’s work in the ACE gallery, and indeed the state,” says Patrice Sharkey, Artistic Director of Adelaide Contemporary Experimental (ACE), who also co-curated the show with Gertrude’s Artistic Director Mark Feary. Both ACE and Gertrude are known for platforming contemporary art by Australian artists.

Ryan Presley's paintings on diptychs at ACE
Ryan Presley's paintings on diptychs at ACE Image: Courtesy of Adelaide Contemporary Experimental

Presley’s creative practice especially deals with the subjects of power and dominion in both the religious and economic spectra. His explorations range from observing the impact of religion and economic control on our daily lives to inspecting and understanding their roles in strengthening colonial structures and empires. The artist, baptised and brought up in the desert township of Mparntwe Alice Springs, derives various references from religious artworks that have continued to develop from the Middle Ages to the Renaissance until today. However, Presley, who is a Marri Ngarr, casts young Aboriginal people in the role of key protagonists, thus re-interpreting these historical references. By re-casting indigenous people in the roles of key characters in these visual tales, Presley seeks to draw attention to the maltreatment and neglect extended to the indigenous Australian population, while also asserting his identity, if only through art.

Ryan Presley, One day this will all be yours (2022), oil, synthetic gold and 23k gold leaf on poly-cotton, 182 x 152 cm
'Fresh Hell' on view at Adelaide Contemporary Experimental Image: Courtesy of Adelaide Contemporary Experimental

Presley’s creative explorations, expressed powerfully through artworks that speak, manage to also establish a dialogue with the viewer. They confront issues that are otherwise swept under the rug. His paintings seeped in red, serve as a tangible reminder of the violence that comes with establishing skewed systems that disproportionately distribute power, access and rights. In his creations, both, the characters who indulge in a struggle against these systems, and the icons and motifs linked to violence, lead the way in appending discomfort and hence, introspect, on these key issues.

Ryan Presley’s ‘Fresh Hell’ will remain on display at Adelaide Contemporary Experimental in Adelaide from 3 September to 29 October 2022 and at Gertrude gallery in Melbourne from 11 February to 26 March 2023.

What do you think?

Comments Added Successfully!