May 14th, 2013

Hamilton Connection III8 MAY - 4 AUGUST 2013Four local artists have come together to showcase their work in an exhibition at Hamilton Art Gallery from the 8th May until the 4th of August. The exhibition, entitled Hamilton Connection III, features four very different approaches to art making with paintings by Angus Christie and Ron Penrose, drawings by Graeme Tresidder and sculpture by Trevor Flinn.

For the past twenty years Hamilton artist Graeme Tresidder has exhibited his work in group and solo exhibitions in Melbourne, Horsham, Balmoral and Hamilton. After graduating with a Bachelor of Fine Art from Victoria College in the early 1990s, Graeme spent two years working as a studio assistant to well- known Australian artist Howard Arkley where he was exposed to an exciting and stimulating art scene. Graeme said: 'The experience gave me a great insight into his art practice. He was also a great motivator and confidant when it came to the difficulties one faced trying to develop as an artist.' Today painting is an all consuming passion for Graeme. 'Painting is living' he says, 'I have been making paintings and drawings for a long time. My paintings are usually very loud and colourful and colour plays a big part of the creative process in their production. With this current series of drawings, The Imaginism Suite I have restricted myself to leaving colour out all together. Permanent marker, pencil, biro, charcoal and graphite in varied combinations have been used to create these drawings. The subject matter is derived from some of the themes I have been interested in over the years.'

Harrow artist Ron Penrose has turned a 40 year passion into a potential full-time pursuit with his portraits of local subjects winning him fans across western Victoria. A sheep farmer by day Ron is completing his Visual Arts degree at the University of Ballarat's Horsham campus. For this exhibition Ron has selected works that stem from his deep interest in portraiture and its depiction of the character of his subjects. He explains, 'Whilst my work sits primarily in the formal genre of portrait painting it is influenced strongly by the works of William Dobell, Vincent Van Gogh and many contemporary portrait painters, particularly Ben Quilty. It's also becoming increasingly important for me to challenge the viewer's perception of painting an accurate likeness. Under-finish can be a legitimate mechanism in attracting viewer interest. My fascination lays in the capacity to capture the quintessential personalities of the sitter, often with minimal paintwork. I'm also increasingly captivated by the 'evocative', where the power of suggestion is more alluring than recording the observable. This concept has a growing appeal for me as a painter and will continue to drive my practice. The simple joy of strategically manipulating colour and texture into a personable format is something I feel a deep affection for and one I'm proud to show.'

Trevor Flinn lives and works in Dunkeld. Trevor spent his childhood and secondary school years in town before leaving to pursue tertiary study in Melbourne. In 2004 he completed a Bachelor of Fine Art (Sculpture) at the Victorian College of the Arts. In 2007 Trevor was accepted as one of Next Wave’s Regional Kick Start Artists, and in 2008 he presented his multi-media, collaborative project: The Puma, The Stranger and The Mountain, which went on to tour regionally thanks to National Exhibitions Touring Support Victoria (NETS). In 2010 Trevor presented Film That Will End in Death, a documentary about risk takers, which premiered at Kings Artist Run Initiative (ARI). In the same year Trevor began work on The Cook and The Woodcutter, a two year video project for Illuminated by Fire, a Regional Arts Victoria (RAV) initiative involving 11 different artists, working in different locations across regional Victoria. In 2011 he was awarded the Alan and Maria Myers Acquisitive Award for his sculpture Hide. In 2012 Trevor spent an intensive three month period engaged as an artist in residence as part of the innovative Twig project initiated by Australia's Creative Rural Economy (ACRE) team. Over the last few years his practice has evolved from sculptural, object based installations to more performance based, live events that involve projected footage and usually conclude with a supper. For this exhibition Trevor has revisited some earlier works and created two new pieces entitled The Puma, The Stranger & The Schoonbroot Man. These works reflect his continuing interest in storytelling, food, legends and ritual.

Angus Christie's paintings and sculptures have been exhibited at regional galleries including Hamilton Art Gallery, Sale Gallery in Gippsland, Mt. Gambier's Riddoch Art Gallery, and Naracoorte Art Gallery. In 2004 Angus was short-listed for the John Leslie Art Prize at the Gippsland Art Gallery, and in 2005 he won first prize for his painting The Wine in the John Shaw Neilson acquisitive art prize in Penola, South Australia. The current series of eight abstract paintings were painted over a period of eight years. Like much abstract art these works seek to convey emotional states without direct reference to narrative or the known visual world. For example, although all eight paintings are strongly related in terms of technique, form and colour, the viewer might experience very different emotional responses, from the worrying sense of foreboding in Black Shadow Dawn to the joie de vivre of Catalina, or from the movement and energy ofAdastra to the quiet mysticism of Pleiades. Thus the series is a theme and variations, each variation shedding its own special light on the same essential idea.

The exhibition Hamilton Connection III is a marvellous opportunity for the public to experience the creativity and talents of four local artists - Angus Christie and Graeme Tresidder of Hamilton, Trevor Flinn of Dunkeld and Ron Penrose of Harrow. Selected works will be available for purchase. The exhibition will be on display at Hamilton Art Gallery from the 8th May till the 4th of August.

EventsOPENINGTuesday 7th May 2013, 6:00pm

To be opened by Director of Warrnambool Art Gallery, Mr John Cunningham