TRACE 2017: BIENNIAL EXHIBITION & ART AUCTION IN THE STREETS OF 4101
Ross Manning
Ross Manning born in 1978 in Brisbane and lives and works in Brisbane. Manning began to exhibit art in 2008 when his work was first shown in The New Fresh Cut at the Institute of Modern Art. There he showed a chaotic array of sculpture producing sound. The following year he was selected for Primavera: Young Australian Artists at the Museum of Contemporary Art, Sydney showing the work Neo-Luddite Pyjama Party. Music and sound have continued to play a strong part in Manning’s creative practice. You could say all of Manning’s work is performative art. All works depend on being present with the work. Recent solo exhibitions have been: 2016 Ross Manning Carriageworks, Sydney, 2013 Volumes Perth Institute of Contemporary Art, 2010 3 songs Long Gallery, MONA FONA, Hobart, 2009 Sunshine and Zincaloom Ptarmigan Space, Finland. Recent group exhibitions include: 2016-2017 Primavera at 25: MCA Collection, Museum of Contemporary Art, 2016 Set In Motion Govett-Brewster Art Gallery/Len Lye Centre, New Plymouth, New Zealand, Colourshift, Alternative Space Loop, Seoul, South Korea, 2015 Light Play University of Queensland Art Museum, Sound Spaces Monash University Museum of Art, GOMA Q, Queensland Art Gallery / Gallery of Modern Art, The Kaleidoscopic Turn National Gallery of Victoria, Imaginary Accord Institute of Modern Art, Interplay National Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art, Seoul, 2014 Different Rhythms, DARK MOFO, Museum of Old and New Art, Hobart, You Imagine What You Desire: 19th Biennale of Sydney, 2013 Foundation’s Edge, QUT Art Museum, 2012 NEW12, Australian Centre for Contemporary Art, Melbourne, Tarrawarra Biennial 2012: Sonic Spheres, Victoria, The National New Media Art Award (Finalist), Queensland Art Gallery / Gallery of Modern Art, Volume One Museum of Contemporary Art Sydney, 2011 The Melbourne Jazz Festival, New Psychedelia, University of Queensland Art Museum. Manning’s work is in the following public institution collections: Queensland Art Gallery/Gallery of Modern Art, National Gallery of Victoria, Museum of Contemporary Art Australia, Museum of Old and New Art, Hobart, University of Queensland Art Museum, Monash University Museum of Art, Melbourne, The Australian Synchrotron, Melbourne.
Ross Manning’s work is assembled from an array of everyday materials or objects like fluorescent tubes, ceiling fans, household twine, brown paper, and overhead projectors, brought to move and sound, often in unexpected ways. As Danni Zuvela says about Manning’s work “life enters [his] art literally, in the kinetic animation of objects and dancing beams of light…” Ambient Painting 2017 is created entirely from dancing beams of light. Made from diachroic glass, which is formed using a stack of thin pieces of glass with a micro-layer of silver. This produces what is known as thin-film optics. Depending on the light and angle of view, shifting colours expand across a surface. In a way that suits Manning’s sensibility completely, the colour effect is produced by the interference of different visible light wavelengths, which either enhance or reduce the reflected light. A natural phenomenon it turns out, seen daily with soap bubbles in the bath, or on the street in oil slicks.
2017
Diachroic glass, silver and acrylic on canvas
75 cm diameter