THE EDGE OF THE LINE
BENJAMIN SHEPPARD
MATTHEW SHANNON
JAMES KENYON
AARON CARTER
curated by Benjamin Sheppard
24 October - 7 November 2009
All graduates of the Victorian College of the arts in Melbourne, this is the first time these four artists have exhibited together outside of the institution. Pulled together by Sheppard, this collective presents as a mixture of technique and artistic discipline that pushes notions of perspective and perception using kinetic sculpture, drawing, laser-cut forms and etched back lit mirrors.
Benjamin Sheppard's work explores spatial and perspectival curiosity as his 3D wire drawings project into space casting shadows across surfaces throughout the gallery. Accompanying these sculptural pieces are intimate works on paper that condense the actual into the virtual on a two dimensional image plane.
The linear quality of Sheppard's work leads the viewer through the gallery to a kinetic work by Matthew Shannon. His mobile works like a rudimentary cinema machine for a visual experience. Powered by incidental air currents in the gallery, the words make up a sentence that often appears half in reverse, spinning in and out of visual comprehension.
The gentle motion of Shannon's work will be juxtaposed with the soaring lines of James Kenyon's drawings and laser-cut assemblages. Amongst his speedy imagery resides an alter ego whose presence introduces a narrative to the web of lines and architectural symbols. Kenyon pieces together the astonishing and hitherto unknown 'Tale of the Speedmaster', a historical figure revered for his exceptional abilities in the 'field of freeway racing'.
Kenyon's work leads into the dream like spatial play of Aaron Carter's back-lit mirror works. Fine lines and textures are etched into the back of a mirrored surface, producing an ethereal dream-scape inhabited by the reflection of the participating viewer.
From drawing the line to toeing it, The edge of the line will tease and tempt the edge of meaning with investigations into spatial and conceptual boundaries, the limits of drawing, and alternative scripts, all the while exploring the seemingly simple line with its indeterminable edge.
