randian - Gravity Tractor

2016.07.16 Sat, by

Gravity Tractor | Sam Leach

[Press release]

23 JULY — 28 AUGUST
SULLIVAN+STRUMPF SINGAPORE

Sullivan + Strumpf is pleased to present its first solo exhibition in its Gillman Barracks space titled, Gravity Tractor, by renowned Australian artist, Sam Leach. Leach’s practice explores the intersection of art history, philosophy and science, navigating between the convergence of representational imagery with abstract elements derived from data visualization and analysis. Informed by 17th century Dutch painting, the artist depicts bucolic landscapes in a new series of paintings, and sculptural works using stones, which impart a sense of metaphor and myth. In these works, Leach traverses the realms of the real and the imaginary; the digital and the analog; the human and the non-human; the theoretical and the proven; the modern and the past.

A gravity tractor is a theoretical device that uses gravity as a towline to deflect the trajectory of an asteroid or meteor that might collide with the Earth. In Gravity Tractor, Leach explores the relationship of celestial bodies and their impact on the formation and destruction of the planet, by using rocks as a medium and vehicle for both illustration and metaphor.

Sam Leach, ‘Speculation About Impact of Meteor at Yellow Water’, 2016
oil and resin on wood, 200 x 200 cm, 16 panels at 50 x 50 cm

Through his study of the geological past of rocks, the artist unveils their histories and explores the materiality and physicality of these objects. Rocks have endured the passing of time; as silent witnesses they collect the stories of civilisation. Leach’s recent series of paintings captures the new landscapes that come as a result of the shifts and movements of deep Earth stone formations.

In Gravity Tractor, the artist evokes a more muted colour palette in juxtaposition with touches of magenta. Leach has used this shade, as it is a non-spectral colour (it is absent from the visible spectrum of light). Its existence is based on psychological and physical perceptions of the colour’s composition. Leach’s new exhibition portrays a newfound naturalism that results from a consequence of both geological metamorphosis and human perceptions of change.

Sam Leach, ‘Ibex with Comet’, 2016, oil and resin on wood, 50 x 40cm

ABOUT THE ARTIST
Sam Leach (b. 1973, Adelaide) is a contemporary artist based in Melbourne. He graduated from RMIT University, Melbourne (2016) with a Doctor of Philosophy (Fine Arts). He holds a Bachelor of Fine Arts with Honours (2004) and a Masters of Arts in Fine Arts (2005) from RMIT University in Melbourne. In 2010, he won Australia’s most prestigious art award, the Archibald Prize, for his portrait of musician Tim Minchin, as well as the Wynne Prize for landscape. Leach was only the third artist to have earned both coveted awards in the same year, after William Dobell and Brett Whiteley. Earlier this year he was a finalist for the 2016 Fluerieu Art Prize at the Samstag Museum in Adelaide, Australia. In 2015, his work was featured in the exhibition Crossing Boarders at Palazzo Bembo in Venice, as a parallel event of the 56th Biennale di Venezia, and 21C Hyperrealism at Daejeon Art Museum in Korea.

His work has been displayed in numerous museum exhibitions including Melbourne Now at the National Gallery of Victoria, Melbourne and Australia: Contemporary Voices, Fine Art Society, London (both 2013). His latest solo exhibitions include Imagining Science, PHD examination show at RMIT Faculty Gallery (2016) and The Desire of Things to Move Against Gravity, Sullivan +Strumpf, Sydney (2015). He is widely considered one of Australia’s most accomplished and collectable contemporary artists, and his work is held in major collections including Art Gallery of South Australia, RMIT University and University of Queensland Art Museum.

ABOUT THE GALLERY
Established by Ursula Sullivan and Joanna Strumpf in 2005, Sullivan + Strumpf presents the work of emerging and established artists working at the forefront of contemporary art.

The gallery is both critically and aesthetically engaged with the work of its represented artists and is committed to the development of their practice. With their Australian base in Sydney, their new gallery located in Singapore’s Gillman Barracks art precinct is their first gallery in Asia.

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