Artworks included in the exhibition.
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Artist Statement
Slow looking
This exhibition is an invitation to partake in slow looking.
Slow looking may seem anachronistic to our contemporary culture which venerates instantaneity. We celebrate being able to scroll through an endless procession of images online without any effort, yet we risk cultivating an attitude towards looking that is passive and inattentive, and to overlook the creativity inherent in slow looking.
Painting is speed resistant and a reminder of the richness that comes from time spent looking. Paintings affirm that slow looking is active, subjective and generative, drawing to the surface our deep thoughts, imaginings and memories where they can be laid bare for our reflection.
The paintings in this exhibition have been constructed to make visible the complexities of slow looking at play when making paintings from the perspective of the painter, to suspend them in medium of paint where they can be revisited by others, albeit with their own subjective inflections and associations.
Slow looking characterises every stage in the making of a painting. It is in operation from the way the painter experiences and contemplates what is present in the world and selects out what is of significance to be reflected and translated into paint. It is in the process of painting, shifting the gaze between the observation of the subject, objects or motifs and abstracting their presence into the painted material of shape, colour, tone and texture. It is in the protracted building of a painting, as time passes and attention fluctuates and seeing becomes host to a symphony of unscripted appearances. The focus may rest on what is present, and concurrently entertain retinal images along with images imagined and remembered. These phantom visions cast the straightforward notion of looking into a complex light.
Looking is further complicated by the fact that making a painting happens in a physical space. The space offers up its own set of distractions, from the way paintings appear against the backdrop of a paint splattered wall or in the context of other paintings and resource images. The studio is also subject to the changing effects of light throughout the day and seasons, not just altering the perception of colours, but generating shapes and patterns from the interference of sunlight and the shadows that drift across the paint surface and merge with the painted image. These conditions influence perceptions and generate alternate courses for actions in the process of painting.
Slow looking, is required to assess the needs of a painting at every stage, to reconcile the gap between the reality on the canvas and the desired outcome. The gaze of the painter consistently returns to the composition, seeing connections in the rhythm of formal elements, touching on the literal and psychological registers of the work, to determine when the sought after visual aesthetic experience is satisfied.
Finally, paintings are made to be seen by others. While these paintings necessarily reflect my experiences, they are not intended as visual puzzles to be solved, rather they are offered to encourage viewers to experience the rich, complex and generative nature of their own slow looking and the meaning it holds for them.
Elisa Crossing
September 2023
Exhibitions views
Elisa Crossing CV
Lives and works on Ngnunawal and Ngambri Country, Canberra.
Education:
2015 -2023 Candidate PhD, ANU, Research School of Humanities & the Arts
1996 - 1991 Bachelor of Arts, Philosophy, Australian National University
1986 - 1983 Bachelor of Arts, (Visual), Painting, Canberra School of Art
Employment
2023 -2002 Lecturer, Painting Workshop, Australian National University, School of Art & Design.
2023-16 Co-Course Convenor and Lecturer, The Exquisite Corpse, ANU School of Medicine/ School of Art & Design.
2021-1998 Lecturer, Foundation Studies, Australian National University, School of Art & Design.
Group Exhibitions
2019 Looks like music, sounds like painting, Gallery of Small Things
2018 IX ANU School of Art & Design Foyer Gallery.
2017 Mosman Art Prize, Finalist, 2017, Mosman Art Gallery.
2018 Ten Years of Collecting, ANU, Drill Hall Gallery, ACT
2016 Re:Place, M16 Gallery, ACT
2013 Gestalt-ed, ANCA Gallery ACT
2010 Stanthorpe Art Festival, Queensland
2009 Art Work, School of Art Gallery, ANU
2003 Inspace, Tuggeranagong Community Arts Centre
2004 Interiors, Schloss Haldenstein, Switzerland
2005 Recent works, Open Studio, Red Hill Studios
2001 The Inaugural 2001 Canberra Art Prize, The Italo-Australian Club, ACT
2001 Still Here, Tenant Exhibition Leichhardt Street Studios
2000 The Second Annual Drawing Show, Spiral Arm Gallery, ACT
1998 One Square Foot, Spiral Arm Gallery, ACT
1997 Living with Art, Spiral Arm Gallery, ACT
1998 Staff Show, Canberra School of Art, ACT
1996 Fifth Australian Contemporary Art Fair, Royal Exhibition Building, Mebourne
1997 Prime Television Painting Prize, NSW Regional Galleries and Nolan Gallery, ACT
1998 Inner Square, Spiral Arm Gallery, ACT
1995 God Save the Queen, Canberra Contemporary Art Space
1994 Ten, Leichhardt Street Studios Tenant Exhibition, ACT
1994 Cadence, Work in Progress, Link Theatre, ACT
1993 Spiral Secrets, Spiral Arm Gallery, ACT
1992 Compact Art, A Clear Case, Ben Grady Gallery, ACT
1993 Between the Covers, Canberra Contemporary Art Space
1994 The Book Project, Raft Press, National Library, ACT
1995 Touring regional galleries in Australia and New Zealand
1991 Camera Obscured, Photo Access, ACT
1990 Octavo, Canberra Contemporary Art Space
1987 Five Graduates, Ben Grady Gallery, ACT
1986 Seven, Bitumen River Gallery, ACT
1986 Graduate Show, Canberra School of Art
Workshops
2022 Presenter, Canberra Art Workshop, Composing towards Abstraction ,
2021 Guest Artist, National Portrait Gallery, Looking to Pounce: Portrait Drawing
2021 Presenter, Canberra Art Workshop, Collective Nouns Workshop
2020 Presenter for Gender Institute funded series of 6 workshops “Imperfect Bodies of Research”
2019 Women’s Body Positivity life drawing workshop, St John XX111 College, ANU
2020 Presenter for Hybrid visions: a marriage of sorts Workshop, Canberra Art Workshop.
2018 Frankenstein 2018: Two hundred years of monsters, Conference. Workshop presenter and editor of film for conference organised by Dr Russell Smith, ANU Lecturer in Literary Studies School of Literature, Languages and Linguistics.
2018-17 Speaker for ANU life model induction seminars, On life Drawing through ANU Foundation Workshop.
2018 Presenter for Women’s Body Positivity life drawing workshop, Burgman College, ANU.
2018 Presenter for Collage into Cubism workshop, Canberra Art Workshop.
2017 Artist Talk, Drill Hall in connection with Ten Years of Collecting.
2018 Presenter for Drawing and Painting: FLUID STATES workshop series Canberra Art Workshop.
2017- 2010 Guest speaker /in collaborations with the National Film & Sound Archive, National Gallery of Australia, and ANU’s Art History and Curatorial Studies, through Foundation Workshop, undergraduate teaching projects.
2016 Life drawing Lecture and workshop presenter for Curatorial students for Dr Charlotte Galloway, Senior Lecturer, Asian Art History and Curatorial Studies, ANU College of Arts and Social Sciences.
2017 Presenter for My Space: Open to Narrative, Canberra Art Workshop
2010 Presenter Autumn Colours, Lanyon, Historic Houses, CMAG, Culture Facilities Corporation
2009 Workshop presenter various, National Museum of Australia & National Gallery of Australia, National Portrait Gallery.
2017 Artist Talk, Drill Hall in connection with Ten Years of Collecting.
2018 Presenter for Drawing and Painting: FLUID STATES workshop series Canberra Art Workshop.
2017- 2010 Guest speaker /in collaborations with the National Film & Sound Archive, National Gallery of undergraduate teaching projects.
2017 Artist Talk, Drill Hall in connection with Ten Years of Collecting.
2018 Presenter for Drawing and Painting: FLUID STATES workshop series Canberra Art Workshop.
2017- 2010 Guest speaker /in collaborations with the National Film & Sound Archive, National Gallery of undergraduate teaching projects.
2016 Life drawing Lecture and workshop presenter for Curatorial students for Dr Charlotte Galloway, Senior Lecturer, Asian Art History and Curatorial Studies, ANU College of Arts and Social Sciences.
2016 Presenter for My Space: Open to Narrative, Canberra Art Workshop
2010 Presenter Autumn Colours, Lanyon, Historic Houses, CMAG, Culture Facilities Corporation
2009 Workshop presenter various, National Museum of Australia & National Gallery of Australia, National Portrait Gallery.
Research Supervision
2019-18 Co-supervisor for Bethany Lincoln Anatomy and Art (HREC Ref: 2016/476). Research School of Biology, College of Science.
Works held in collections.
Works held in numerous private collections
2016 Acquired for the Australian National University Art Collection,
2003 The Schloss Haldenstein, Collection Switzerland.