The Appearance of Things
Anne Mestitz
7 - 28 September 2024
Opening Reception: Thursday 12th September, 6 - 8 pm
West End Art Space
Artist Statement
My studio is filled with materials and objects. I cannot throw things out in case they inspire me to make an artwork or I may need them for a jig - stacks of recycled wood, paint frames, tins of paint, solid paint, rods of metal and wood, blocks and spheres and tiles of wood, multiple pens and paintbrushes and cotton card and many strange objects I have collected. After finishing a project and before starting a new one, I clean and clear away as much as possible - I try to present a clear space to begin again. I concern myself with things such as colour, tone, weight, shape, form, balance, scale, opacity, pitch, luminescence, structure, texture, space, darkness, depth, density, grids, lines, mass, gravity, potential, chance, dissonance, light, hue, tone and rhythm.
My studio is a place of safety and withdrawal from the world, whereby time ceases and no longer matters. It is in this particular space that I can allow ideas to enter my mind and complete tasks without having the weight of things that have to be done present.
This exhibition is made predominantly of three sets of works. The ‘notation circles’, the ‘cymbals’ and lastly, the ‘tinged by gravity’ works. All the works are what I call object-paintings. The works are part of the field of geometric abstraction within which I have worked for over twenty years.
The five circular works are part of an ongoing "sight-reading " project. The convergence of music and painting has a long history, with many painters in the 1950s inspired by jazz's rhythmic beat and energy. John Cage introduced indeterminacy in art by creating abstract musical scores open to interpretation. Composers continue using this highly varied and experimental graphic form today. Within the ‘cymbal’ works, I thought about the varied coloured lines expanding from the centre space and reverberating within the form, like the echo of a cymbal.
The ‘tinged by gravity’ series came about by playing with existing materials in my studio and parts of an old artwork. My ideas come from a constant curiosity and I create things from a combination of my imagination, memory and the conditions present for the making of things.
Biography
Anne completed a PhD in 2011 and has taught Sculpture and Drawing at the Tasmanian College of the Arts casually over several years. Anne visited New York for a month as a recipient of the Qantas Art Award.
Anne’s artworks are in private and public collections, including the JAHM, Flack studio, Art Duo and the Tasmanian Museum and Art Gallery.
In 2018, Anne curated an exhibition across two venues in Hobart titled Beyond the Field(still) to commemorate 50 years since The Field exhibition at NGV.
Anne won the Lloyd Rees Art Prize 2019 and Sculpture by the Sea (Roaring Beach, Tasmania 1998).
Anne completed a commission for the new luxury Marriot Tasman Hotel in Hobart, installed in December 2021 and has been a finalist in the Nillumbik Art Prize, Sculpture by the Sea (Sydney and Hobart), Hobart City Art Prize, Tasmanian Women’s art award, Hutchins Art prize, Poimena art award, Omnia art prize and semi-finalist in the Doug Moran Portrait prize.
