Ash Keating: Elevation
18 March - 18 June 2023
ELEVATION is a solo exhibition of new paintings by Melbourne-based artist Ash Keating. Collectively titled Elevated Horizon Response, this interconnected series of large-scale panoramic paintings are inspired by Keating’s memory and photographic documentation of the landscape, horizons, and weather patterns observed from an elevated viewpoint on Yorta Yorta Country / the Goulburn Valley.
Keating has a distinctive approach for creating artworks of atmospheric compositions. Since 2015, his most recognisable investigations of pure abstract and spontaneous gestures have developed as a style referred to as Gravity System Response paintings. For ELEVATION, Keating has challenged this style and expanded his practice by drawing from his own experiences, memories, and photographs of being surrounded by nature.
Edging towards abstraction, yet with the visibility of a continuous horizon line, this series is the closest his work has felt to resembling the landscape of a place. In these paintings, Keating reminds us of our shared captivation and need for connection with nature.
Images: Ash Keating ELEVATION, installation view. Shepparton Art Museum, 2023. Photo by Leon Schoots
Artist Bio
Ash Keating (b. 1980 Naarm/Melbourne) is a contemporary visual artist based in Naarm/Melbourne. His practice is multidisciplinary, ranging from site-specific installations, outdoor murals and performance, to large-scale and domestic scaled canvases.
Keating holds a Bachelor of Fine Art (BFA) in Painting from Monash University, Melbourne and a BFA Honours from the Victorian College of the Arts, Melbourne. He has exhibited and produced outdoor murals extensively across Australia and internationally, including at National Gallery of Australia, Canberra; National Gallery of Victoria, Melbourne; Museum of Contemporary Art, Sydney; Adelaide Festival, Adelaide; Museo de Arte Contemporaneo, Santiago, Chile; Seoul Art Space and Artsonje Centre, Seoul, South Korea; and Christchurch Art Gallery, Christchurch, New Zealand.
His works are held in numerous public and private collections including the National Gallery of Victoria, Melbourne; National Gallery of Australia, Canberra; Museum of Contemporary Art, Sydney; Art Gallery of New South Wales, Sydney; Monash University Collection, Melbourne; and Artbank.
Image credits:
Top right: Ash Keating portrait by Jeremy Blincoe
Middle and bottom right: Ash Keating studio work by Michael Pham
Curator: Jessica O'Farrell
Location: Peoples' Gallery, Level 2
Free
