Red Gate Gallery, Beijing is delighted to announce the exhibition Process + Place opening October 27^th through to October 30^th, 2018. Process + Place celebrates the 45th anniversary of the establishment of Diplomatic Relations between Australia and China. Curated by China Art Projects, Process + Place brings together six artists from Australia through a series of exhibitions in major cities in China & Australia – Beijing, Hong Kong, and Sydney.

Urbanization and globalization nowadays impel us to ceaselessly migrate, emulate, consume, and create, in order to keep in step with the times. With this curatorial concept, Process + Place explores the artists’ self-identification and apprehension in a world where they must learn to adapt to a constant and rapidly changing environment. Process + Place · Beijing presents four Australian artists – Kate Anderson, Tony Scott, Vicki Grace and Bernadette Olle – whose art underwent an intense process of change during their participation at the Red Gate International Residency studios over the month of October. Through their work resolutions they proposed such questions as – how does one’s creative perspective and art practice change when working in a cultural context that is different from one’s own, and how does one create a meaningful body of work by referencing a society that is undergoing such profound social and economic transformation as China?

For the artists participating in the exhibition, process reflects the places in which the artists create the work. The term place in the title not only refers to the geographical location but also the emotional, psychological and spiritual state the artists occupies during their process of making art. The works of art presented in this exhibition are works-in-process, changing and evolving until the artists depart from the physical site in which the work is being created. The artwork and art making process has not only evolved during the residency but will continue to evolve after the artists have left Beijing – the artists involved in Process + Place see this concept as a crucial part of their artistic journey.

Artist Kate Anderson uses overlaid pigments on canvas to build walls and surfaces. Moreover, the grey cityscape in front of her camera lens reveals the insignificant details of life in Beijing through its ambiguous features. The journey from Australia to Beijing and the one-month residency provides the artist with an expanded layer of comprehension on the resourcefulness and imaginative ability of human nature.

Tony Scott focuses on the impact brought to the city and its people by industrial production and consumption. From his multi-media sculpture and painting, the artist invites the audience to discuss with him subjects such as the detritus generated from rapid urban and social changes, the loss and replacement of knowledge, the disintegration of the body, and the state of isolation one experienced because of the difference in languages and social behaviour.

Vicki Grace is an Australian artist who has lived in both Asia and Australia over many years. Her art practice and study focus on the aesthetic expression in traditional knowledge and spirituality of the East. She makes mixed-media painting, works on paper, and installation art through the manipulation of colour, light, and space. Candles, Buddhist statues, and papers all implies time, process and the state of mind of the artist when creating the work.

Bernadette Olle uses nature as the subject matter in her work, grappling the relationship between reality and likeness through painting. “The ancient connection between nature and humans is never to be overlooked, even though humans have stepped away from the animal world and entered the industrial world for centuries,” suggested Olle. It is such connection that keeps her persisting with the portrayal of details, “there is no explanation, but we always pause our steps when splendid objects come to sight. The industrial world’s definition of time drives us away from appreciating these wonders… if I could slow down the time through representation of nature, many years from now when I recall, wouldn’t that be something meaningful to remember?”

Process + Place will be opened by Meaghan Shaw, First Secretary of Public Affairs and Culture, Australian Embassy, Beijing, at 4:45 pm on October 27^th, 2018. We look forward to seeing you at Red Gate Gallery.