Drawing on the wall

Drawing on the wall

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Drawing on the wall Julia Gorman David Harley Kenny Pittock Kerrie Poliness

Deakin University Art Gallery Deakin University Downtown Gallery

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Foreword

Deakin University Art Gallery is delighted to present Drawing on the wall, a project that used the model of an exhibition to explore ways of learning in a contemporary context.

Curated by James Lynch, the exhibition was held across two venues and featured a number of new commissions and rarely seen site-responsive, wall-based artworks by leading contemporary artists: Julia Gorman, David Harley, Kerrie Poliness and Kenny Pittock. James worked closely with the artists and a team of nine Deakin University students who were participating in the University’s Work Integrated Learning (WIL) program, to bring these artworks to light. I thank James for initiating this ambitious project and for his commitment and professionalism in bringing the project to fruition. I would also thank the artists and their representative galleries for lending their time and creativity to the project as well as the academics from the School of Communication and Creative Arts and the members of the WIL team in the Faculty of Arts and Education for supporting the students’ involvement. My gratitude also extends, in particular, to Professor Matthew Delbridge, Head, School of Communication and Creative Arts, Deakin University, for his opening remarks to launch the exhibition.

I share his observation, expressed so eloquently at the launch, that this exhibition connects our most primal need to create with the possibilities of new experiences, learning and knowledge.

Leanne Willis Senior Manager, Art Collection and Galleries

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Julia Gorman The whole thing (detail) 2020 Photo by Polo Jimenez 5

Drawing on the wall: a user’s guide

I can only really half remember what it was like to be a student. Thinking back to high school in Preston, the world of art seemed a million miles away. I can still recall how it felt to be outside of something you so desperately wanted to be a part of. It wasn’t until going to art school did I get to meet and develop some genuine friendships with artists, be it lecturers or peers. These first few introductions and meetings helped me realise, artists were relatable real people and this, in turn, made being an artist seem possible.

Step One Thinking of these apprehensive beginnings became the catalyst for taking the first steps towards this exhibition. Drawing on the wall was conceived as a pedagogical instrument in which Deakin students worked with, and realized, a number of ambitious new works collaborating with contemporary Australian artists. The aims were simple, to support artists in the creation of new works that maximised the architectural potential of Deakin’s gallery spaces, and also to provide a hands-on learning experience.

Soon after I approached four prominent Australian artists who I thought would be open to a conversation about creating artworks in this way. Julia Gorman, David Harley, Kenny Pittock and Kerrie Poliness all have extensive experiences working directly with architecture in different ways and I also knew them to be both generous and collegiate in nature.

Powerpoints With the artists on board I pitched the exhibition as an idea and introduced the artist’s practices to several groups of students. I visited second and third year 6

creative arts classes with the assistance of lecturers Dr Simon Grennan and Dr Ilona Jetmar. My curatorial role was less as the author and more akin to the salesman or coach, trying to garner interest and enthusiasm from the cohort.

It was the student’s suggestion that the project become part of the Work Integrated Learning program at the University. In doing so, they received a credit for their time and efforts. This also opened up the project to the larger faculty. In all, nine students participated including Mark Davies, Marisa Shiming Dong, Dae Gibson, Bianca FletcherGunev, Kat Mitchell, Jessica Ouyang, Tara Parker, Sam Robertson-Waterson and Luna Nauli Sihombing from areas of study such as journalism, design, photography, education and the creative arts. As well as the ten days of installation in the gallery setting, a further program of workshops, creative responses and reporting were developed and our calendars co-ordinated.

Two lines that never meet Working with others is intrinsic to the practice of the Melbourne based artist Kerrie Poliness.

Since the late 1980s she has been creating abstract artworks including paintings and drawings based on diamond forms, structures and diagonal lines. Poliness has also become known for a series of large scale abstract wall drawings created by differing collaborators and participants following detailed step by step instructions in the form of artist books.

As preparation for the exhibition Poliness led students through an education workshop including drawing exercises and a large chalk drawing on the ground, before undertaking the creation of two large scale crystalline drawings using coloured tape.

On a trip to Europe in 2014 Poliness deepened her knowledge and appreciation of Russian Constructivist artists after seeing exhibitions in Zagreb, Vienna and Dusseldorf. BBKO was particularly inspired by the work of Natalia Goncharova that was featured in the exhibition Malevich and the Russian Avant-garde at the Bundeskunstalle in Bonn, Germany. Upon returning to Melbourne Poliness created BBKO, an acronym for the colours blue, black and orange. The work begins with the outline of a large circle within which a black cross is drawn. Then the work develops into a facetted crystalline form of interconnecting light and dark blue and orange lines. Only realising this work once before Poliness was keen to present it in Melbourne for the first time. With Poliness as a guide, students followed a detailed series of printed instructions.

SMOBK 2020 is an entirely new artwork, created and conceived as a sister work to BBKO and for the Deakin University Art Gallery space. Defined by the initial outline of a large square, the artwork is similarly composed by connecting points on the outer edge with diagonal lines. In this instance silver and black crosses are overlayed with magenta and orange lines. More open and linear in its design, SMOBK is reminiscent of a large map or schematic drawing.

Horizontal relationships With his social media profile and regular exhibition projects at Deakin over the last few years, artist Kenny Pittock is well known to our audience for his humour and absurd view of suburban Melbourne life.

Unassuming in nature, the artist struck immediate connections with the student group who were enthusiastic to work with him. Directly painting on the wall, Pittock’s drawing practice appeals through its sense of immediacy and authenticity. The two new

works featured in Drawing on the wall were carefully chosen by the artist from numerous ink on paper studies that were projected onto the wall for planning, suitability and painting.

The installation of this exhibition took place in February 2020, at the end of a summer of extreme weather and catastrophic bushfires.

Reflecting on these events Pittock’s wall drawings captured the current state of tension and our anxieties around climate change with wry comedy. Whilst Footprints is a play on language, All our eggs in one basket is more of a visual gag - a precarious tower of eggs that reaches toward the ceiling on the brink of collapse.

Pittock often employs comic strategies in his artistic practice playing with language, narrative and structure. He also borrows the comedian’s sense of autobiography. Pittock’s artistic persona always precedes and follows the work, reminding us that we are narrators of our own life stories and events.

Force Majeur Artist Julia Gorman’s work The whole thing could be described as an event in its own right. A major undertaking, the artist worked with the group over four days to accomplish this large scale piece which filled the eastern wall of the gallery from floor to ceiling.

Gorman creates site-specific installations using abstracted geometric shapes, forms and lines with brightly coloured adhesive vinyl that directly cover gallery floors, walls, ceilings and interiors. With a background trained as a painter, Gorman uses the gallery architecture as her canvas. Her compositions involve complex twisted patterns and tangled forms that both expand and compress the spaces in which she works.

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Visiting the space in preparation, Gorman took photographs and measurements, taking these away to complete a number of ink drawings on paper. One of these fluid sketches was chosen and presented to the group for installation. A detailed grid was marked onto the wall and the drawing was slowly transferred using large sheets of vinyl. These were cut, placed and taped to the wall before adhering into place.

Partly inspired by the floral patterns and textiles domestic interiors from the 1940s, The whole thing largely consisted of curves in contrasting vibrant greens, oranges and pinks. These floating forms swirl over the plaster wall like pressed flower petals lost in a book. Gorman, no doubt, considers the principals of Rococo design in her compositions, with works that are asymmetrical, and capture a sense of lightness, motion and drama. Joyous and playful The whole thing also possesses a powerful energy. Gorman’s circulating forms have a dynamic upward force that pushes outward in a crescendo to the edges of the structure, seizing all in its trajectory like a tornado.

Adapt The Deakin Downtown Gallery is a very different exhibition space compared to the light filled and high ceilings of the Deakin Art Gallery at Burwood. With a modern interior Deakin Downtown utilises several floors of the Collins Square building. Up a winding staircase, the gallery is an internal carpeted room without windows and with a low hung ceiling. The nature of the space lends itself to more intimate viewing experiences with mediums such as photography and time based works.

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Since the mid 90s artist David Harley has long incorporated new technologies into his abstract painting practice. Over this time he has worked with large scale digital printers, computer aided design and other 3D imaging software. To accompany the three exhibiting artists at Burwood, Harley was invited to present a wall drawing as a moving image at the Deakin Downtown Gallery.

The genesis for ‌mpg4 Drawing wall #31 demoored and elaborated began two years ago with an early version of the animation becoming the basis for a large-scale printed wall drawing that was presented at the Shepparton Art Museum in 2018.

In preparation for this exhibition, Harley re-edited and added to the animation creating a bold new digital work adapted specifically for the proportions of the western wall of the gallery. Harley’s title acknowledges this development of the digital file from animation to print form and back again.

The animation takes the viewer through the surface of a lyrical abstract painting into a carefully constructed 3D virtual space.

Here the artist has choreographed a complex journey through a Baroque space of mark making, motion, line, shape and colour.

The digital architecture could almost be described as a kind of skeletal body with appendages and veins clustered around a ribbed dome like form.

Each new composition for Harley is an entirely new world guided by the aesthetics and logic of his previous works. His wider creative practice includes paintings, prints and sound pieces inspired by a knowledge of orchestration and the compositional structures of music. Harley creates dynamic experiences that immerse the viewer in states of stillness and flux.

Improvise

Hands off

In preparation to the exhibition Harley led a workshop with the student group looking at the context and history of his practice more broadly. From this, and from viewing a final version of the animation the group created their own artworks in response. These works were also featured in the exhibition and included drawing, textile, print, paint and sculptural pieces considering the pace, pulse, motion and design of Harley’s animation.

While this was an important opportunity for the students, the focus of the exercise was to consider the act of improvisation: requiring active listening and looking, being in the moment, following intuition and making choices.

Towards the final weeks of this exhibition the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic abruptly interrupted our lives and our immediate plans were left suspended in the air. As the second exhibition for the year was now impossible to deliver, the dates for Drawing on the wall were extended until mid-May. But a few days later, the doors to the exhibition were closed as campuses across Australia pivoted to online learning.

Hands on The outcome of these enterprises was an exhibition that was loud, colourful, exuberant and full of life, but this was not its primary aim. Thinking further, participating in the production of these artworks was not to tutor students in artistic sophistication and professionalism, but to open up thinking and to create a more active and collegial dialogue.

Multiple conversations generously worked through the various problems, ideas and solutions that the making of the exhibition produced. Reflecting back the artworks could then be seen as catalysts for creative learning, material thinking, and the sharing of knowledge and experiences. In this way, the artists Julia Gorman, David Harley, Kenny Pittock and Kerrie Poliness, in collaboration with students, kept the making and the worlds of art, alive and relevant.

As I write this essay, into the hundrethsomething day of isolation, I am homeschooling my three young sons and working from home. The pandemic has perhaps permanently changed the way we think of our future, the way we work, and our social and family relationships. Interactions with those outside my own home now largely consist of communications limited to emails, Zoom and Skype calls. The exhibition Drawing on the wall was for a number of months in a kind of permanent stasis until the pack down process was completed. In this new context of infection I fondly look back knowing we were very fortunate to complete this project before the various stages of restrictions had commenced and how great it was to accomplish something so tangible, together and so freely in the world.

James Lynch Curator, Art Collection and Galleries

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Kerrie Poliness discusses installation with students 10

Kerrie Poliness’ chalk drawing in progress.

Photo by Deakin University Art Gallery 11

Kerrie Poliness’ finished chalk drawing.

Photo by Mark Davies 12

David Harley’s workshop at Deakin Downtown.

Photo by Deakin University Art Gallery.

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Deakin Photographer Simon Peter Fox discusses documenting exhibitions with the group.

Photo by Deakin University Art Gallery.

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Installation begins in earnest at the Deakin University Art Gallery.

Photo by Deakin University Art Gallery.

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Kenny Pittock says hello!

Photo by Emmy Clifton.

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Cutting vinyl for The whole thing by Julia Gorman.

Photo by Julia Gorman.

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Kerrie Poliness BBKO 2014/2020 Photo by Polo Jimenez 19

Kerrie Poliness SMBKO 2020 Photo by Polo Jimenez 20

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Kenny Pittock Footprints 2020 All our eggs in one basket 2020 Photo by Polo Jimenez 22

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Kenny Pittock Footprints 2020 All our eggs in one basket 2020 Photo by Polo Jimenez

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Julia Gorman The whole thing 2020 Photo by Matthew Stanton 26

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Installation view Deakin University Art Gallery.

Photo by Polo Jimenez 28

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David Harley ‌mpg4 drawing wall #31 de-moored and elaborated 2018/2020 Mark Davies Blue Streaks on Sunburst 2020.

Installation views Deakin Downtown Gallery. Photo by Simon Peter Fox 30

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David Harley ‌mpg4 drawing wall #31 de-moored and elaborated 2018/2020 Mark Davies Blue Streaks on Sunburst 2020.

Installation views Deakin Downtown Gallery. Photo by Simon Peter Fox 32

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David Harley ‌mpg4 drawing wall #31 de-moored and elaborated 2018/2020 Mark Davies Blue Streaks on Sunburst 2020.

Installation views Deakin Downtown Gallery. Photo by Simon Peter Fox 34

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Luna Nauli Sihombing A picture of good health 2020 36

List of works

Works are listed as they appeared in the exhibition.

DEAKIN UNIVERSITY ART GALLERY Kerrie Poliness BBKO 2014/2020 SMOBK 2020 coloured, adhesive tape dimensions variable courtesy of the artist and Anna Schwartz Gallery, Melbourne Kenny Pittock Footprints 2020 All our eggs in one basket 2020 synthetic polymer paint courtesy of the artist Julia Gorman The whole thing 2020 coloured adhesive vinyl courtesy of the artist and Sophie Gannon Gallery, Melbourne

DEAKIN DOWNTOWN GALLERY David Harley ‌mpg4 drawing wall #31 de-moored and elaborated 2018/2020 digital video projection courtesy of the artist and Charles Nodrum Gallery, Melbourne Luna Nauli Sihombing A picture of good health 2020 mixed media on acrylic Kat Mitchell Layers 2020 polyester thread, acrylic paint and double-sided tape on cartridge paper Bianca Flecther-Gunev Urban Sunrise 2020 oil on canvas Jessica Ouyang Blurring and Boundaries 2020 pigment inkjet print with acrylic on Juniper Beryta rag paper Sam Robertson-Waterson Chaotic Neutral 2020 ink on watercolour paper Mark Davies Blue Streaks on Sunburst 2020 digital painting on canvas Tara Parker A Colourful Disarray 2020 synthetic polymer on canvas All works are Š copyright and courtesy of the artists.

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Biographies

Julia Gorman

David Harley

Artist Julia Gorman first studied a Bachelor of Fine Arts (Painting), Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology, Melbourne (1995), followed by a Master of Fine Arts, from Monash University, Melbourne (2006). Gorman has presented regular solo exhibitions across Australia since 1997 selected exhibitions include: The Forties, Inside Out Commission, Museum of Contemporary Art, Sydney (2016); Growth Habits, Geelong Art Gallery, Victoria (2014) and Tacky Tango, Artspace, Sydney (2007). Selected group exhibitions include: Vivid Sydney: light, music and ideas festival, Museum of Contemporary Art, Sydney (2017); Every Brilliant Eye: Australian Art of the 1990s, National Gallery of Victoria, Melbourne (2017); MCA Collection: Today Tomorrow Yesterday, Museum of Contemporary Art, Sydney (2016); Melbourne Now, National Gallery of Victoria, Melbourne (2013); Colour Bazaar, Heide Museum of Modern Art, Bulleen, Victoria (2011); The New Silhouette (with Emily Floyd), Institute of Modern Art, Brisbane (2006); Wallpower, Art Gallery of Western Australia, Perth (2005); This Was The Future, Heide Museum of Modern Art, Bulleen Victoria (2003); The Future in Every Direction, National Gallery of Victoria, Melbourne (2003); Rent, Overgaden Contemporary Art Gallery, Copenhagen and Australian Centre for Contemporary Art, Melbourne (2000) and Primavera, Museum of Contemporary Art, Sydney (1999).

David Harley completed a Bachelor of Fine Art, Painting (1985) and a Master of Fine Art (1995) both at the Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology.

Recently, Harley also completed his PhD at the University of Melbourne (2015). His creative practice explores abstract painting influenced by sound composition and digital technologies. Harley has held regular solo exhibitions in Melbourne at Charles Nodrum Gallery and the former Pinacotheca Gallery since 1990. He has also held a number of solo exhibitions in Germany including: File_Eu, In Situ, St채dtische B체hnen, M체nster (2009) and David Harley - Paintings Works, Nassauischer Kunstverein, Wiesbaden (2008). Selected group exhibitions include: The Kaleidoscopic Turn, National Gallery of Victoria, Melbourne (2015); Erscheinung der Farbe, Kirche Maria Heimsuchung, Kohlheck (2010); F체r das Abstrakte gibt es keinen Ersatz, Gallerie Oqbo, Berlin (2009); Against the Amnesia Lifestyle Showroom, Gertrude Contemporary, Melbourne (2006); Ninjas and Turtles, Pankow Kusnthalle, Berlin (2005) and Pen to Pixel 200 Years of Australian Prints and Drawing, National Gallery of Victoria, Melbourne (2003).

Julia Gorman is represented by Sophie Gannon Gallery Melbourne. juliagorman.com.au

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David Harley is represented by Charles Nodrum Gallery, Melbourne. davidharley.net

Kenny Pittock

Kerrie Poliness

Kenny Pittock received a Diploma of Visual Arts from Swinburne University (2008) before completing a Bachelor of Fine Art, with Honours at the Victorian College of the Arts, University of Melbourne (2013).

Pittock’s practice encompasses wall drawing, artist books and ceramic sculptures which observe the vernacular of suburban life and experience with a wry humour. Recent solo exhibitions include: Every kind of shape, Hugo Michell Gallery, Adelaide (2019); 52 Shopping Lists Written By People Who Need Milk, Bunjil Place Gallery, Victoria (2018) and She smiled at me, Chan Hampe Galleries, Singapore (2017). Selected group exhibitions include: The Drawing Room, Deakin University Art Gallery, Melbourne (2018); Every Dog Will Have Its Day, Casula Powerhouse, Sydney (2017); Self made: Zines and Artist Books, State Library of Victoria, Melbourne and touring (2017); Cornucopia, Shepparton Art Museum, Victoria (2016); Art as a verb, Monash University Museum of Art, Melbourne and touring (2014); Che Cosa!, Wollongong City Art Gallery, Wollongong (2014) and NEW14, Australian Centre for Contemporary Art, Melbourne (2014).

Kerrie Poliness first studied a Bachelor of Fine Art at the Victorian College of the Arts, Melbourne (1984) and more recently, received a PhD from the University of Melbourne (2019). Poliness has presented regular solo exhibitions since 1990.

Recent solo exhibitions include: Field Drawing #1, Home of the Arts, Gold Coast (2018); Red Matter Wall Drawing #2, Museum of Contemporary Art, Sydney (2016); Landscape Paintings (Lake Bolac and Zagreb) and Wave Drawings (orange and green), G-MK, Zagreb (2014) and Kerrie Poliness: Black O, Dowse Art Museum, Lower Hutt (2013).

Selected group exhibitions include: Unravelled, City Gallery, Wellington (2019); MCA Collection: Today, Tomorrow, Yesterday, Museum of Contemporary Art, Sydney (2018); Every Brilliant Eye: Australian Art of the 1990s, National Gallery of Victoria, Melbourne (2017); Call of the AvantGarde: Constructivism and Australian Art, Heide Museum of Modern Art, Melbourne (2017); Trace: Performance and its Documents, Queensland Art Gallery & Gallery of Modern Art, Brisbane (2014); Melbourne Now, National Gallery of Victoria, Melbourne (2013); Australian Contemporary Drawing 2, University of London (2012); NETWORKS (cells and silos), Monash University Museum of Art, Melbourne (2011) and Australia - Contemporary Non-Objective Art, Kunsthalle Dominikanerkirche, OsnabrĂźck and Museum im Kulturspeicher, Wurzburg (2008).

kennypittock.com

Kerrie Poliness is represented by Anna Schwartz Gallery, Melbourne. kerriepoliness.com

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From left: Kat Mitchell Layers 2020 Bianca Flecther-Gunev Urban Sunrise 2020 Jessica Ouyang Blurring and Boundaries 2020 Sam Robertson-Waterson Chaotic Neutral 2020 Tara Parker A Colourful Disarray 2020 40

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Mark Davies Blue Streaks on Sunburst 2020 42

Acknowledgements

I often have to remind myself how fortunate I am to be able to work as a curator and to be able to think up ideas and realize them through the act of exhibition making in such wonderful and unexpected ways as this project. So firstly, thank you to the art gallery team Julie Nolan, Claire Muir and Senior Manager Leanne Willis for supporting my ideas however small and fledgling with their development.

I wish to extend my sincere gratitude to artists Julia Gorman, David Harley, Kenny Pittock and Kerrie Poliness for their generosity of spirit, their openness and for thinking through their various processes to include student participation in some way. I also wish to thank their various representatives including Sophie Gannon, Charles Nodrum and Anna Schwartz galleries for lending the services of their artists and artworks for this exhibition.

Thank you to the staff from the School of Communication and Creative Arts including Head, Matthew Delbridge for his energising opening remarks. Also thanks to the SCCA technicians Bradley Axiak, Victoria Holessis and Thomas Salisbury. As well as, thanks Dr Ilona Jetmar and Dr Simon Grennan for positively recommending the project to their students. My gratitude also goes out to Aastha Shrestha, Work Integrated Learning Co-ordinator from the Faculty of Arts and Education, who was our helping guide through the program. Aastha provided incredible assistance and support throughout the project. Thanks also to Dr Tony Chalkey for his academic supervision and thanks to the Faculty of Arts and Education more generally for supporting the project through its grant scheme.

Importantly, I wish to thank the student group Mark Davies, Marisa Shiming Dong, Dae Gibson, Bianca Fletcher-Gunev, Kat Mitchell, Jessica Ouyang, Tara Parker, Sam RobertsonWaterson and Luna Nauli Sihombing for your trust, hard work and determination with the project. I hope you all enjoyed participating and in-particular the busy install. It was a delightful and joyful experience seeing you all get thoroughly involved in the creation of these ambitious artworks. I hope the positivity and our collegiate relationships can continue.

Thanks to our photographers Polo Jimenez and Simon Peter Fox for their images. Thanks similarly, to the Deakin Downtown staff lead

by Marc Dunstan and Eddie Khor for their assistance with the Downtown gallery. My final thanks goes to Julian Di Martino and Will O’Donell for extending great understanding, patience and art handling experience to the installation. Large scale projects such as this are collaborative in nature and it is gratifying to be able to acknowledge these contributions formally.

James Lynch

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Drawing on the wall Julia Gorman David Harley Kenny Pittock Kerrie Poliness Exhibition dates 18 February to 18 March 2020 Deakin University Art Gallery, Melbourne Campus at Burwood Deakin Downtown Gallery, Deakin Downtown, Tower 2, Collins Square, Melbourne Š 2020 the artists, the authors and publisher. Copyright to the works is retained by the artists and his/her descendants. No part of this publication may be copied, stored in a retrieval system, transmitted or reproduced in any form or by any means without the prior written permission of the publisher and the individual copyright holder(s).

The views expressed within are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily represent the views held by Deakin University. Unless otherwise indicated all images are reproduced courtesy the artists.

All works are Š copyright and courtesy of the artists Photography is by Simon Peter Fox and Polo Jimenez unless otherwise stated.

Image measurements are height x width x depth.

Exhibition Curator: James Lynch.

Published by Deakin University 978-0-6486747-1-9 digital publication only Catalogue design: Jasmin Tulk Cover and back image: installing the exhibition Drawing on the wall 2020 photo by Deakin University Art Gallery

Deakin University Art Gallery Deakin University Melbourne Campus at Burwood 221 Burwood Highway Burwood 3125 T +61 3 9244 5344 E artgallery@deakin.edu.au www.deakin.edu.au/art-collection Gallery hours Tuesday - Friday 10 am - 4 pm Free Entry Deakin University CRICOS Provider Code: 00113B Facebook.com/ArtDeakin Twitter.com/ArtDeakin Instagram.com/deakinartgallery izi.travel - Deakin Art Collection and sculpture walk guides Deakin University acknowledges the Wadawurrung and the Wurrunderji people of the Kulin nation and the Gunditjmara people, who are the traditional custodians of the lands on which our campuses are based. We pay our respects to them for their care of the land.

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