The Collections Project
Art Gallery of South Australia
1 July 2016
Adelaide artist Zoe Kirkwood expands the very idea of painting, challenging its traditional associations with two dimensions and with representation. More than a process, the very act of painting becomes a performative end in itself for Kirkwood.
In this body of work, made for The Collections Project, she found an affinity with the ornate craftsmanship that underpins much of the Gallery’s decorative arts collection. Her sumptuous installation explored the idea of a contemporary Baroque aesthetic with a distinctly Australian vernacular through bold, elaborate ornamentation, saturated colour, theatricality and eclecticism.
Kirkwood was a recipient of the 25th Anne & Gordon Samstag International Visual Arts Scholarship, awarded by The University of South Australia for overseas study in the visual arts from 2017.
Kirkwood’s The Schomburgk Yabbies were presented in Gallery 15 of the Melrose Wing of European Art at the Art Gallery of South Australia, North Terrace, Adelaide.
