Simryn Gill’s latest exhibition project, Here art grows on trees, will be presented in the Australian Pavilion at the 55th International Art Exhibition – la Biennale di Venezia.

Curated by Catherine de Zegher, the exhibition is conceived as a site-specific project featuring significant new work by Gill that is made in her customary way—in the places she lives, and through her many long-standing relationships with makers, assistants, interlocutors and galleries. 

Through their formal presence and the manner of their creation, these works offer a view into our inhabitation of local circumstances in a world that is becoming smaller and flatter. 

“Here art grows on trees presents Gill’s works on paper, being of vegetation, as a cog in the whole system of turning wheels, as a link in the chain, in the string of gems that the world is offering—a cyclic instead of linear worldview,” says de Zegher.

Gill’s processes include methodical collections gleaned from the detritus of daily life, photographing her surroundings, drawing and writing—all thoughtful interventions that instil meaning into ordinary actions and everyday objects.

A new publication will also be launched at the exhibition, featuring extensive colour plates and commissioned essays by Catherine de Zegher, Carol Armstrong, Michael Taussig, Brian Massumi, Kajri Jain, Lilian Chee and Ross Gibson.

The Australian Pavilion is managed by the Australia Council for the Arts, and led by the Australian Commissioner, Simon Mordant AM, a driving force in contemporary art projects both locally and internationally.

About the artist
Simryn Gill was born in Singapore, and lives and works in Sydney and Port Dickson, Malaysia. Gill has had major solo exhibitions at the Museum of Contemporary Art, Sydney; Tate Modern, London; and The Arthur M. Sackler Gallery, Smithsonian Institution, Washington DC. Her works have been included in numerous group exhibitions including Documenta 12 (2007) and dOCUMENTA 13 (2012) in Kassel, Germany. Gill is represented by BREENSPACE, Sydney; Jhaveri Contemporary, Mumbai; and Tracy Williams Ltd, New York.

About the curator
Catherine de Zegher is the Curator for the forthcoming 5th Moscow Biennale (2013). She was previously co-Artistic Director of the 18th Biennale of Sydney in 2012, and Guest Curator in the Department of Drawing at MoMA. Prior to this, de Zegher held various positions in Europe and North America, notably as the Executive Director of the Drawing Center in New York and the Belgian Commissioner for the 47th Venice Biennale. 

About the Commissioner
Simon Mordant AM is Vice Chairman and Managing Director of Greenhill & Co., Inc., a leading global independent corporate advisory firm, and a committed and passionate supporter of the arts. He is the Chairman of the Board of the Museum of Contemporary Art, Australia and also sits on the Board of the Australian Broadcasting Commission (ABC), the Sydney Theatre Company, the Leadership Council for the New Museum, and is a member of the Executive Committee of the Tate International Council and a member of the International Council of The Museum of Modern Art.

About the Australia Council
As the Australian Government’s arts funding and advisory body, the Australia Council has managed and funded Australia’s participation in the Venice Biennale since 1978. The Australia Council is committed to building opportunities for the international presentation and collection of Australian contemporary art, and representation at the Biennale is an important part of this strategy. Australia’s participation in the Venice Biennale has contributed to the professional development of many artists and has opened up significant presentation opportunities internationally.

About the Australian Pavilion 
The Australian Pavilion is positioned within the Biennale Gardens (Giardini della Biennale). The pavilion is one of 29 within the Giardini, all built at different periods by various countries. The Australian Pavilion was designed by renowned Australian architect Philip Cox and opened in 1988. 

Australia’s representation at the Venice Biennale began in 1954 with an exhibition of Sidney Nolan, Russell Drysdale and William Dobell’s iconic works, followed by visual arts luminaries such as Arthur Boyd, Rosalie Gascoigne and Albert Tucker. Other previous Australian representatives include Imants Tillers (1986), Judy Watson, Emily Kame Kngwarreye (1997), Howard Arkley (1999), Patricia Piccinini (2003), Ricky Swallow (2005), Susan Norrie, Daniel Von Sturmer and Callum Morton (2007), Shaun Gladwell (2009) and Hany Armanious (2011).

Media contacts
Australia and New Zealand
Cameron Woods, Australia Council for the Arts: T +61 2 9215 9030 / c.woods@australiacouncil.gov.au

International
John Diviney, Brunswick Arts: T: +971 (4) 446 6270 / jdiviney@brunswickgroup.com

The official Australian representation at the 54th International Art Exhibition – La Biennale di Venezia is Hany Armanious.

Entitled Hany Armanious The Golden Thread, the exhibition is curated by Anne Ellegood, Senior Curator at the Hammer Museum in Los Angeles. Doug Hall AM is the Australian Commissioner. The exhibition is presented in the Australian Pavilion in the Giardini di Castello.

“Australia has had a continuing presence at the Venice Biennale since 1954. I am delighted that Hany Armanious represents Australia this year. Hany’s art is panoramic, and embraces ideas and imagery regardless of place. His work is insightful, poignant, and often humorous”, says Commissioner Doug Hall.

Based in the process of casting, Armanious’s sculptures present a double take on objects ranging from ancient history to the everyday. His meticulous casts of found objects—usually redundant or discarded items that feature the wear and tear of their past lives—are deliberately created in non-precious materials, most commonly polyurethane resin.

Armanious redefines the traditional intention of casting–creating multiple identical reproductions of an object—and instead uses the process to create unique objects. Both the original object and the mould are often destroyed, and the scrupulously cast inanimate objects become artifacts of sorts, temporarily diverting focus from the object itself to the process of its making and evolution.

The Australian Pavilion will feature a series of eleven works, mostly new, and a few older pieces.

“Armanious’s invocation of ancient forms and cultures, his embrace of a nearly alchemical transformation of one material into another, and his interest in incorporating the processes of making and displaying works of art into the sculptures themselves, underscore his desire to locate the mysterious within the mundane” says curator Anne Ellegood. “By arguing that objects in our everyday life—leaf-blowers, vases, teapots, baskets, irons, window blinds, or even a cardboard Burger King crown—can carry as much visual pleasure, as much potential for beauty, as those things designed or deemed to be in the domain of aesthetics, his work is an acknowledgement that there is more to this world than meets the eye.”

The Australian exhibition at the 54th International Art Exhibition, La Biennale di Venezia, is a project of the Australia Council for the Arts, the Australian government’s arts funding and advisory body.

About Hany Armanious

Sydney-based artist Hany Armanious was born in 1962 in Ismalia, Egypt. He received his Bachelor of Visual Arts at the City Art Institute in Sydney in 1984.

He has presented solo exhibitions at the Contemporary Art Museum in St. Louis, Missouri (2008); the City Gallery in Wellington, New Zealand (2008); the Institute of Modern Art in Brisbane (2006); and the Hammer Museum in Los Angeles (2001), among others. His work was also presented in solo exhibitions at galleries around the world, including Foxy Production in New York (2010, 2007); Galleria Raucci/Santamaria, Naples, Italy (2009); Roslyn Oxley9 Gallery in Sydney (2009, 2006, 2004, 2003); and Michael Lett Gallery in Auckland (2008, 2006, 2004, 2003).

His work was included in the Busan Biennale, Korea (2006), the Johannesburg Biennale (1995), the Venice Biennale (1993), and the 9th Sydney Biennale (1992) and is in the collections of the National Gallery of Australia in Canberra, Queensland Art Gallery in Brisbane, Museum of Contemporary Art in Sydney, Auckland Art Gallery in New Zealand, the Museum of Contemporary Art in San Diego, California, and the private collection of Dakis Joannou in Athens, Greece.

In 2005, Armanious was shortlisted for the National Sculpture Prize at the National Gallery of Australia, and he has been awarded several residencies, such as the Australia Council residency in New York City and the Australia Council’s Los Angeles studio. Hany won the prestigious Moet and Chandon Fellowship in 1998.

Sponsors

The Australia Council for the Arts acknowledges and thanks the following project supporters:

Major support is generously provided by The Balnaves Foundation.

Additional funding is generously provided by Maddocks, Museum of Old and New Art, New Albion Gallery and Roslyn Oxley9 Gallery.

Further support is provided by Arts NSW, Arts Victoria, Arts Queensland, Department of Culture and the Arts WA, Arts NT, and Arts Tasmania; through the Commissioner’s Council of Simon and Catriona Mordant, Glyn Davis AC represented by Charles Green, Penelope Seidler AM and Roslyn and Tony Oxley; and many individuals through the Australia Venice Biennale 2011 Champions Program.

Media contacts:

International
Jeffrey Walkowiak
Blue Medium Inc.
T: +1 212 675 1800
M: +39 348 922 9794 (in Venice during the vernissage days)
jeffrey@bluemedium.com

Australia and New Zealand
Victoria McClelland-Fletcher
Australia Council for the Arts
T: +61 2 9215 9008
M: +61 (0) 409 223 719 (in Australia during Vernissage days)
v.mcclelland@australiacouncil.gov.au

The official Australian representation at the 54th International Art Exhibition – La Biennale di Venezia features Hany Armanious, the Sydney-based artist whose sculptural work often engages ancient and contemporary cultural phenomena.

Entitled Hany Armanious The Golden Thread, the exhibition is curated by Anne Ellegood, Senior Curator at the Hammer Museum in Los Angeles. Doug Hall AM is the Australian Commissioner. The exhibition is presented in the Australian Pavilion in the Giardini di Castello.

“Armarnious’ work is insightful, poignant, and often humorous”, says Commissioner Doug Hall “and I am confident that international audiences will respond to it with keen interest.”

Rooted in the process of casting and idiosyncratic in nature, the work stages a double take on objects ranging from ancient history to the everyday. Armanious meticulously casts found items—usually cast off or discarded things that display the wear and tear of their past lives—in deliberately non-precious materials, most commonly polyurethane resin.

He then turns on its head the traditional intention of casting—for example, the multiple reproduction of an object—and instead uses the process to create unique objects. Both the original object and the mould are often destroyed, and the carefully and painstakingly cast objects become artifacts.
The Australian Pavilion will feature a series of eleven works, mainly new, and some older pieces.
“Armanious’ invocation of ancient forms and cultures, his embrace of a nearly alchemical transformation of one material into another, and his interest in incorporating the processes of making and displaying works of art into the sculptures themselves, underscore his desire to locate the mysterious within the mundane” says curator Anne Ellegood. “By arguing that objects in our everyday life—leaf-blowers, vases, teapots, baskets, irons, window blinds, or even a cardboard Burger King crown—can carry as much visual pleasure, as much potential for beauty, as those things designed or deemed to be in the domain of aesthetics, his work is an acknowledgement that there is more to this world than meets the eye.”

Hany Armanious The Golden Thread will be open to the public from 4 June to 27 June 2011.

About the Artist
Sydney-based artist Hany Armanious was born in 1962 in Ismalia, Egypt. He received his Bachelor of Visual Arts at the City Art Institute in Sydney in 1984.

He has presented solo exhibitions at the Contemporary Art Museum in St. Louis, Missouri (2008); the City Gallery in Wellington, New Zealand (2008); the Institute of Modern Art in Brisbane (2006); and the Hammer Museum in Los Angeles (2001), among others. His work was also presented in solo exhibitions at galleries around the world, including Foxy Production in New York (2010, 2007); Roslyn Oxley9 Gallery in Sydney (2009, 2006, 2004, 2003); and Michael Lett Gallery in Auckland (2008, 2006, 2004, 2003).

His work was included in the Busan Biennale, Korea (2006), the Johannesburg Biennale (1995), the Venice Biennale (1993), and the 9th Sydney Biennale (1992) and is in the collections of the National Gallery of Australia in Canberra, Queensland Art Gallery in Brisbane, Museum of Contemporary in Sydney, Auckland Art Gallery in New Zealand, the Museum of Contemporary Art in San Diego, California, and the private collection of Dakis Joannou in Athens, Greece.

In 2005, Armanious was shortlisted for the National Sculpture Prize at the National Gallery of Australia, and he has been awarded several residencies, such as the Australian Council residency in New York City and the Australia Council’s Los Angeles studio. Hany won the prestigious Moet and Chandon Fellowship in 1998.

Australia at the Venice Biennale – La Biennale di Venezia
Australia’s long history of representation at the Venice Biennale began in 1954 with the exhibition of Sidney Nolan’s iconic works, followed by visual arts luminaries such as Arthur Boyd, Rosalie Gascoigne and Albert Tucker.

Other past Australian representatives include Imants Tillers (1986), Judy Watson, Emily Kame Kngwarreye (1997), Howard Arkley (1999), Patricia Piccinini (2003), Ricky Swallow (2005), Susan Norrie, Daniel Von Sturmer and Callum Morton (2007) and Shaun Gladwell (2009).

As the Australian Government’s arts funding and advisory body, the Australia Council for the Arts has managed and funded Australia’s participation in the Venice Biennale since 1978. The council owns the Australian Pavilion, designed by renowned Australian architect, Philip Cox.

Media Contact:
For further information, images or to arrange interviews, please contact:

Australia and New Zealand
Victoria McClelland-Fletcher
Australia Council for the Arts
T +61 2 9215 9008
v.mcclelland@australiacouncil.gov.au

International enquiries:
Jeffrey Walkowiak
Blue Medium, Inc., USA
T +1 (212) 675-1800
jeffrey@bluemedium.com