Sydney Contemporary Presents 2020
01.10. - 31.10.2020

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Sydney Contemporary Presents 2020 is now open for viewing. We’re pleased to participate in the fair’s first online edition, which takes you on an art buying adventure from the comfort of your own home. Scroll down to learn more about our five featured artists. Click HERE to navigate the Sydney Contemporary presents 2020 website, an exciting initiative with over 450 new artworks to support the arts community this year.

Giacomo Costa

Janet Laurence

Juz Kitson

Lottie Consalvo

Philip Wolfhagen

Please visit the gallery to view these works in person. To request high resolution images or a catalogue, please email info@dominikmerschgallery.com

Giacomo Costa

Giacomo Costa, Atmosfera n.17, C print on aluminium, 100 x 177cm, edition of 1

In his imagined dystopian landscapes, Giacomo Costa depicts the natural environment gradually reclaiming the urban, man-made landscape. His digitally constructed worlds are like ruins from a lost civilisation, which with a turn of time could be our future. ‘atmosfera no.17’ is a digitally constructed apartment block floating on a foreboding black body of water. In a recent article for CNN, Jacqui Palumbo writes, “Costa’s imagery strikes an unsettling tone, reminiscent of urban centers recently put under strict lockdown due to the coronavirus pandemic.” The article draws further connections between Costa’s futuristic cityscapes and the ‘Blade Runner’ adaptation of Philip K. Dick’s novel “Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?”

Florence-based Costa has represented Italy twice at the prestigious Venice Biennale and has been exhibited at the Centre Pompidou in Paris, the XIII Quadriennale in Rome, VIII Biennale della Fotografia in Turin and across London, New Orleans, New York and Sydney. Listen to the artist discuss ‘atmosfera n.17’ below:

Janet Laurence

Janet Laurence, ‘Entangled Garden for Plant Memory 2’, 2020, dye sublimation archival print onto polished mirror, 120 x 80 cm, edition of 3 + 1AP

Janet Laurence’s ‘Entangled Garden of Plant Memory 2’ is a poetic new work based on first-hand research in Taiwan exploring the interconnectedness of plants and the human experience. This work comes from a series of stunning forest images dye-sublimated onto mirror, drawn from her recent solo show at the Yu-hsiu Museum of Art. Laurence depicts trees from across the globe, including Australia, Bhutan and Nantou, creating a highly-reflective and immersive scene within a single panel.

Laurence’s work is critically celebrated nationally and internationally for its examination of botanical ecologies. Just in the past two years, Laurence has realised solo shows at the Museum of Contemporary Art, Australia (2019), the Alexander Koenig Zoological Museum in Bonn, Germany (2019), the Art Gallery of New South Wales in collaboration with the Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam (2018), and the Yu-Hsiu Museum of Art, Taiwan (2020).

Juz Kitson

Juz Kitson, ‘The Monument, No 1.’, 2020, Jingdezhen porcelain, resin, steel, perspex, enamel, leather, merino wool, fox and rabbit fur, timber, 82 x 41 x 41 cm

Juz Kitson’s ‘The Monument, No 1.’ is both monstrous and tender, combining classical symmetry, abject seduction and chimera-like material play. Speaking to art critic Jackie Lemmon, Kitson describes her visceral works as “quietly seductive. They are provocative, because underneath they are quite disgusting. … They are hybrids of nature.” This work represents a new direction for Kitson, where she assembles hundreds of individually-fired pieces into free-standing sculptures that have a soft, matte aesthetic.

While completing her Honours at the National Art School, Kitson’s ‘Formations of Silence’ body of work was acquired by David Walsh for his Museum of Old and New Art in Tasmania. Her work is held in public collections, including the Art Gallery of South Australia, Artbank and RMIT University, as well as in private collections in Australia, Germany and the UK.

Video Courtesy of Sidney Myer Fund Australian Ceramic Award

Lottie Consalvo

Lottie Consalvo, ‘The Entrance To ‘The End’, 2020, acrylic on linen, 244x183cm

Lottie Consalvo is a Newcastle-based artist whose abstract paintings create a physical presence for imagination and memory, walking a tightrope of ambiguity. ‘The Entrance To The End’ is a monumental diptych that envelops viewers through the contrast of purposeful and restless forms. To create her paintings, Consalvo dips deep into psychological recesses, allowing emotion to find forceful forms through the immediacy of paintbrush, rags and fingers across linen.

Consalvo is well-regarded for the strength of character present in her paintings, performances and video works. She has held solo shows at Maitland Regional Art Gallery, Heide Museum of Modern Art and Casula Powerhouse. Notably, she was also selected to participate in a residency with Marina Abramovic for the 30th Kaldor Public Art Project in 2015.

Video Courtesy of The Peninsula City Project

Philip Wolfhagen

Philip Wolfhagen, ‘Concept for Fifth Transect’, 2019, oil & beeswax on linen, 46 x 151 cm

Philip Wolfhagen is Australia’s pre-eminent contemporary landscape painter. He crafts images that are mysterious and sombre in mood, produced with thickly applied pigment mixed with beeswax. ‘Concept for Fifth Transect’ is inspired by the atmospheric landscape of northern Tasmania and the emotive qualities of light and weather. His art frequently makes reference to the work of John Constable, seeking to transpose Constable’s oil sketches into contemporary idioms.

Wolfhagen has exhibited in over 40 solo shows, has won the Wynne prize and the Lloyd Rees art prize amongst other awards, and has been awarded the Centenary Medal for contribution made to the Arts. He was included in the 2013 exhibition ‘Australia’ at the Royal Academy of Arts in London, the most significant survey of Australian art ever mounted in the UK, and his paintings are held in nearly every major state and national public art institution in Australia.

Maria Stoljar’s interview with Philip Wolfhagen for Talking with Painters