Zak Tilley | Salt lakes and a moonscape of opal tails | 23 June - 16 July 2022

ZAK TILLEY SALT LAKES AND A MOONSCAPE OF OPAL TAILS 23 June - 16 July 2022

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Cover Image:Stuart HWY through salt lakes on Kokatha Country (detail), 2022, acrylic on canvas, 109 x 109 cm

LIST OF WORKS

1.

Island Lagoon, 2022, acrylic on canvas, 74 x 105 cm

2.

Lake Gairdner, 2022, acrylic on canvas, 77 x 89 cm

3.

Lake Hart, 2022, acrylic on canvas, 89 x 77 cm

4.

Opal tails Coober Pedy, 2022, acrylic on canvas, 89 x 77 cm

5.

Opal tails Coober Pedy 2, 2022, acrylic on canvas, 89 x 109 cm

6.

Stuart HWY between salt lakes, 2022, acrylic on canvas, 89 x 109 cm

7.

Opal tails Coober Pedy 3, 2022, acrylic on canvas, 89 x 136 cm

8.

Painted desert Breakaways, 2022, acrylic on canvas, 77 x 89 cm

9.

Twilight opal spills, 2022, acrylic on canvas, 77 x 89 cm

10.

Pink inland sea, 2022, acrylic on canvas, 109 x 89.5 cm

11.

Painted desert, 2022, acrylic on canvas,109 x 89 cm

12.

Salty shoreline, 2022, acrylic on canvas, 89.5 x 136.5 cm

13.

Stuart HWY opal spills, 2022, acrylic on canvas, 89 x 77 cm

14.

Stuart HWY through salt lakes on Kokatha Country, 2022, acrylic on canvas, 109 x 109 cm

15.

Island Lagoon lookout, 2022, acrylic on canvas, 122 x 143 cm

16.

Approaching Coober Pedy, 2022, acrylic on canvas, 109 x 89 cm

17.

Salt lake lagoon, 2022, acrylic on canvas, 140 x 190 cm

SALT LAKES AND A MOONSCAPE OF OPAL TAILS

SALT LAKES AND A MOONSCAPE OF OPAL TAILS was conceived and created on the sovereign lands of

Finally, arriving during a dusty sunset at Coober Pedy for the night. Piles and mounds of varying sizes

the Central Arrernte people. It is a retrospective of my time traversing the National HWY A87

signal you’ve arrived: tailings, the accumulated spoil, in this case opals, from the gangue fraction of the

between Port Augusta (Kurdnatta) and Alice Springs (Mparntwe) over the past seven years. The show

earth. The opal country of extractive white, pink and cream under acutely blue skies.

particularly focuses on my favourite stretch, the 370km between the roadhouse at Pimba, and Coober Pedy (Umoona - Antakirinja Country). The body of work is based off photographs, studies, and drawings

The mined landscape is striking and violent – an unsettling reminder of natural destruction and the

of the country along that road - the Route A87.

colonial history it holds. The scars of colonisation baking in the 40+ degree sun, almost uninhabitable.

A painted desert moonscape.

Dry hot winds hiss through arid scrub and water deprived eucalypts slowly edge out to a dry orange arid expanse. During rare seasons of rain, it can feel like driving through cleared paddocks where the Buffel

The body of work is informed by collated drawings, paintings, photographs, and written documentation

grass can spread and creep to the horizon.

of my time spent travelling through and around the area, particularly focussing on the salt lake systems of Lake Gairdner National Park, the custodians of which are the Kokatha People. The works

Around Pimba, simply consisting of a roadhouse and pub, the road heads to a rise, then a glimpse of

in the series depict the various and different styles reflected in these fleeting documentations over the

the salt lakes – first Island Lagoon in the west, then Lake Hart and Lake Harry in the east, then Lake

past seven years. The obvious theme of frames that I use provides the perspective of nostalgia and time

Gairdner in the west again. With stubbed flat top islands floating in the glary crystal reflections of the

past and memories.

salt, mirages fool you; impossible to tell if the lakes are full or not until you descend to the few causeway passes.

Zak Tilley June 2022

Island Lagoon, 2022, acrylic on canvas, 74 x 105 cm

Lake Gairdner, 2022, acrylic on canvas, 77 x 89 cm

Lake Hart, 2022, acrylic on canvas, 89 x 77 cm

Opal tails Coober Pedy, 2022, acrylic on canvas, 89 x 77 cm

Opal tails Coober Pedy 2, 2022, acrylic on canvas, 89 x 109 cm

Stuart HWY between salt lakes, 2022, acrylic on canvas, 89 x 109 cm

Opal tails Coober Pedy 3, 2022, acrylic on canvas, 89 x 136 cm

Painted desert Breakaways, 2022, acrylic on canvas, 77 x 89 cm

Twilight opal spills, 2022, acrylic on canvas, 77 x 89 cm

Pink inland sea, 2022, acrylic on canvas, 109 x 89.5 cm

Painted desert, 2022, acrylic on canvas, 109 x 89 cm

Salty shoreline, 2022, acrylic on canvas, 89.5 x 136.5 cm

Stuart HWY opal spills, 2022, acrylic on canvas, 89 x 77 cm

Approaching Coober Pedy, 2022, acrylic on canvas, 109 x 89 cm

Stuart HWY through salt lakes on Kokatha Country, 2022, acrylic on canvas, 109 x 109 cm

Island Lagoon lookout, 2022, acrylic on canvas, 122 x 143 cm

Salt lake lagoon, 2022, acrylic on canvas, 140 x 190 cm

ZAK TILLEY EDUCATION 2020 Master of Teaching, Visual Arts (Secondary), SCU, Lismore 2014 Bachelor of Fine Arts, UNSW Art & Design, Sydney SELECTED SOLO EXHIBITIONS 2022 The Few and Far, Otomys Contemporary, Melbourne 2021 Zak Tilley, Martin Browne Contemporary, Sydney 2021 Wrong Green, Otomys Contemporary, Melbourne 2020 FERALS, Raft Artspace, Alice Springs 2019 Traversing The Monaro, Saint Cloche Gallery, Sydney 2018 Up The Guts, Chrissie Cotter Gallery, Sydney SELECTED GROUP EXHIBITIONS 2021 Summer Group Exhibition, Martin Browne Contemporary, Sydney 2021 SMALLS, Otomys Contemporary, Melbourne 2021 Winter Group Exhibition, Martin Browne Contemporary, Sydney 2020 SMALLS, Otomys Contemporary, Melbourne 2020 Australia Living Land, Otomys Contemporary, Melbourne 2019 Sun it Rises, aMbush Gallery, Sydney 2019 Barkers and Biters, aMbush Gallery, Sydney 2019 Crossing Borders, aMbush Gallery 2018 BELANGLO, aMbush Gallery, Sydney 2017 Synchronicity, Clifton School of Arts, Clifton 2016 All in one space, Tiny Tailor Gallery, Sydney 2014 COFA Annual Graduates Show, UNSW Art & Design, Sydney Awards 2019 Fisher Ghost Art Prize, Campbelltown Art Centre (Finalist) 2017 Waverley-Woollahra 9x5 Art Prize (Finalist) 2017 Korea Australia Art Prize (KAAF) (Finalist) Selected Publications 2021 Galah Magazine - Ceri David: “Zak Tilley”, profile 2021 SPACES Magazine - The Bath House Studios, Profile 2021 Australian Financial Review - Dan Stapleton: “Meets Australia’s Rising Stars of 2021” 2020 8CCC Radio Alice Springs – FERALS interview 2019 ABC Radio Sydney - Renee Krosch Evening Show: Traversing the Monaro interview 2018 Australian Geographic, Angel Heathcote: “Young Aussie artists reimagine Belanglo State Forest in new exhibition”