Details
Free, no booking required
NGV Federation Court
180 St Kilda Rd, Melbourne VIC, Australia
Dates
Sat 16 May 1 – 1.30pm
Amid is a celebration of the complexity of art, life and the wonder of simple things. It is a book, to paraphrase the Irish poet Seamus Heaney, of ‘subtleties and tolerances’. The book offers a space for musing… when we muse, we do not have to conclude, but can accept what is there in all its openness. Amid brings painting, text and photography together as a composite in the form of a book.
Amid is the latest publication from Melbourne/Naarm-based artist David Thomas, published by Perimeter Editions.
The event brings together Thomas and designer Stuart Geddes to discuss the scope of the artist book and their collaborative approach in producing Amid.
Participants
David Thomas
David Thomas was born in Belfast, Northern Ireland. He studied at the University of Melbourne, Monash University and RMIT University. He lives and works in Melbourne/Naarm.
His work explores the contemplative function of painting, photopainting and installation, in particular how new iterations of the monochrome tradition and the composite explore the perception of time and space, complexity, impermanence, memory and feeling.
He holds a PhD from RMIT University, where he taught in the School of Art until 2017. Upon leaving, he was appointed Emeritus Professor. He occasionally curates and writes on contemporary Eastern and Western art.
His work is held in numerous private and public collections. He is represented by Block Projects Gallery, Melbourne/Naarm, Australia; Minus Space, New York, USA; and raum 2810, Bonn, Germany.
Stuart Geddes
Stuart Geddes is a graphic designer working mostly with books.
He is also a lecturer, researcher and PhD candidate at RMIT University, where his research interests converge around the form of the book, through collaboration, emerging histories and material practices.
In his practice, the book is a primary medium, and book design is explored as a discursive practice – how books emerge from complex relationships and operate as actors in the world.
Together with Žiga Testen, he is part of Graphic Design Work Pty Ltd, a design studio focused on book design and publishing for arts and culture.
His work has been collected and exhibited internationally.