ELEMENTS ART GALLERY PROUDLY PRESENTS

New Gods and Satellites
Exhibition dates: 4th – 20th March 2011

BY BRENDAN O'LEARY & TONY PANKIW
Opening Night: Thursday 3rd MARCH 6.30 - 8.30pm

detail – O’Leary

Satellite III - Pankiw

Brendan O’Leary completed his Fine Arts Degree, Majoring in Printmaking at Curtin University in 2001 earning Best Printmaker Award. In 2009 Brendan won both the Joondalup Community Art Prize for Best Work on Paper and the Centennial Art Prize for Best Print.

Brendan continues this work by mixing and composing his original screenprints and collographs to create entertaining yet saturated imagery often based on his satirical interpretation of today’s mad world.

In this latest body of work Brendan comments on the mass idolization of celebrities, often characters of disrepute, which similar to many organized religions over the millenniums, elicit a following without individual thought. Brendan muses over the fact ‘we have the freedom to deify anything that takes our fancy’ and ‘New Gods’ presents a mostly irreverent selection of possibilities with the odd true hero thrown in for contemplation.

Tony Pankiw’s early career focused on printmaking winning a number of awards and commendations the first being the Shell Fremantle Print Award back in 1982 on his completion of a Graduate Diploma in Melbourne. More recently Tony has specialised in (primarily steel) sculptures, fulfilling major public art commissions.

In 2005. the Australian Steel Institute granted Pankiw the award for ‘Creative Use of Steel’. Tony is highly visible in the WA community from the just installed Tower Sculpture at APA in Northbridge, the Manning Road entry statement in South Perth, the Trio of Trees at Peel Inlet Housing Estate, to numerous school ground projects including the most recent at Tapping Primary School in collaboration with Jenny Dawson. Tony has also contributed to country projects such as the Northcliffe Sculpture Walk with his ‘Cascading Shelter’. Although Tony will be using steel as the major component he aims to create a sense of lightness and weightlessness with his satellite themed sculptures and comments ‘though larger works will always excite me I am finding this opportunity to scale down my ideas to create smaller works is a satisfying challenge'.

For further information or images of this work please contact Elements Art Gallery manager Deborah Howlett

08 93862000 deborah@elementsartgallery.com.au