Contemporary Australian society reflects two distinctive and often contraditictory cultural expressions. One is brought about by the profoundly beautiful emptiness that fills the void at the centre of the country. The other emerges out of the multicultural, highly technical and globalised cities dottign the periphery of the vast, silent landscape, providing striking contrast. 

Over the past decade, the availability of relatively inexpensive digital technoloy has meant that artists whose primary medium of expression maybe painting, sculpture or photography are now equally at ease working creatively with a HD digital camera and a laptop computer. 

The result has been a proliferation of moving image works seen in galleries and museums around Australia by artists seeking to expand their expressive concerns into new configurations for the screen. These include works that are often minimalist in design with emphasis placed on the exploration of space, time and screen surface.

Other artists are drawn to experimenting with the traditional conventions of cinema, narrative form and the exploration of the links between the aesthetics and materiality of the medium of film itself.

The digital film works produced by these artists are characterised by pushing the boundaries of what we might understand to be a 'documentary' or 'narrative' film. Others work with existing or 'found' footage to rework into something completely new. 

The video artworks in the exhibition have been divided into two groups, displayed on parallel screens to encourage viewers to compare and move between the works.

Striking Constrasts explores these two parallel and distinxtive aesthetic tendencies that have emerged out of film and video art practice in the Australian contemporary art scene in recent years in the work of 10 contemporary Australian artists.

Artists include JOHN CONOMOS, JOHN GILLIES, DEBORAH KELLY, TONY LAWRENCE,  JESS MACNEIL, ANGELICA MESITI, JOAN ROSS, GRANT STEVENS, NICOLA WALKERDEN, and PAUL WINKLER.

Curated by dLux MediaArts in association with Geoffrey Weary, Sydney College of the Arts, University of Sydney, and toured by Museums & Galleries NSW. 

Catalogue Details:

John Conomos, Lake George (After Rothko), 2007, digital video, stereo sound, 10:00 min

John Gillies, Road Movie (part 1), 2008, High Definition digital video, stereo sound, 9:00 min

Deborah Kelly, Beastliness, 2011, digital animation, stereo sound, 3:17 min. Deborah Kelly is represented by Gallery Barry Keldoulis, Sydney.

Tony Lawrence, Girl on Fire, 2009, super 8 film / digital video, stereo sound, 2:00 min

Tony Lawrence, White Sands, 2010, super 8 film/ digital video, stereo sound, 6:55 min 

Jess MacNeil, The Wall, 2009, High Definition digital video, stereo sound, 7:00 min

Angelica Mesiti, Rapture (silent anthem), 2009, single-channel High Definition digital video, colour, silent, 10:10 min. Angelica Mesiti is represented by Anna Schwartz Gallery, Sydney.

Joan Ross, BBQ this Sunday, BYO, 2011, digital animation, stereo sound, 6:00 min. Joan Ross is represented by Michael Reid.

Grant Stevens, Baby Please Don’t Go, 2004, digital video, stereo sound, 4:22 min. Grant Stevens is represented by Gallery Barry Keldoulis, Sydney.

Nicola Walkerden, CINAMNESIA, 2012, 16 mm film / digital video, stereo, sound, 5:09 min

Paul Winkler, Drums and Trains, 2009, 16 mm film / digital video, stereo sound, 12:00 min