The Graduates: Adelaide Central School of Art's next wave

Featuring work from ACSA’s Bachelor of Visual Art Honours and Degree program, the students’ work was influenced by ACSA’s staff of highly regarded artists such as Roy Ananda, Sasha Grbich, Nicholas Folland, Julia Robinson and Daryl Austin.

“The exhibition was the culmination of years of study and marks an important milestone for these emerging artists,” ACSA’s CEO Penny Griggs says of the work shown at ACSA’s Adelaide Central Gallery and the Teaching & Studios Building from December 8 to December 21. “You get a strong sense of the artists they will become. Painting certainly takes centre stage this year with some very strong works.”

Of note from the painting discipline was Honours student Cristina Metelli. Her abstract paintings reflect her relationship with the landscape and through gestural marks and colour relationships she creates a sense of calm. Metelli’s practice has evolved during her Honours degree in 2018 with the result a body of work, which was resolved and restrained. Metelli received The Board of Governors and Guildhouse Award for Excellence for a high-achieving graduate.

Oliver Kabbani’s abstract paintings were also a stand out. His practice is simply an exercise in colour and paint – seeing what sensations can be evoked by placing colours next to each other and the result was very striking canvases of colour and shapes that were well balanced.

Also of note was Vivienne Byrne-Rosendahl’s series Thank You Giorgio, a tribute to Italian artist Giorgio Morandi. Her paintings, created in muted tones, focus on the process of painting just as much as the finished product. The time-based, layered and paint-stroked pieces were extremely effective.

Another highlight from the Honours group was Elizabeth Jane Lange who has been working in the unique medium of digital painting. The works, which explore the artist’s own issues with mental health as well as society’s attitudes towards it, were mesmerising, inviting the audience to take time to sit and consider these issues. Her video and installation work, Gonna sit here ‘till I dissolve was particularly captivating.

Alison Smiles’ personal works about her battle with endometrial cancer were especially moving. Smiles explores the materiality of clay and its ability to hold actions to reflect the effect of the treatment of cancer. Vault 466 features 466 porcelain vessels, which echo the 466 people who would potentially lose their struggle with endometrial cancer in 2018. The work was extremely powerful and she received the Lee Family Award for a high achieving Bachelor of Visual Art (Honours) graduate.

Another artist of note was Craig Glasson, who received the FELTspace Graduate Award for a high achieving graduate. His foam board sculptures, informed by architectural and mathematical systems, explore notions of time and space and were extremely effective.

Looking through the work on display at the Graduate exhibition there was no clear style evolving from the school but rather similar themes and ideas. Some of the themes explored were nostalgia, sense of place, the natural environment, mental health, cultural heritage, gender identity and fantasy.

“Our degree asks a lot from students, challenging them to make complex connections between ideas and materials,” Griggs says. “The degree is designed to produce sophisticated makers, deep thinkers and hard workers.”

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