ARTEREAL GALLERY IS EXCITED TO ANNOUNCE THAT WE NOW REPRESENT BEN ALI ONG

Ben Ali Ong_Nyctophilia 13_2015_Archival inkjet pigment print_Edition of 3_29.5 x 37 cm

Artereal Gallery is excited to announce that we are now representing Ben Ali Ong. Ben Ali Ong is a Sydney based artist working predominantly across photography, video and mixed media. Choosing to work solely in black and white, his brooding photographs are defined by their use of dream-like imagery and explore recurring universal themes - life and death, the poetics of every-day existence, the pain and suffering of the human condition contrasted with the beauty and mystery of the urban environment and the natural world. 

Often blurry, grainy and scratched – Ong’s pictorial choices appear to be made completely at random, creating a disjointed and surreal narrative... Preferring the artworks to speak for themselves, Ong presents them in a manner that allows the viewer to construct their own meanings and interpretations, in order to achieve a state of self-reflection. This idea is concurrent throughout all of Ong’s works and is inspired by Surrealist film and writing. The notion of the artwork being an open-ended fragment with multiple arrangements as well as the potential to convey a subconscious, or spiritual source.

The inherent allure of Ben Ali Ong’s practice stems from the psychological pull which draws the viewer into each work. Ong’s work has an underlying sense of anguish and sorrow (perhaps even horror) which clings to these black and white photographs. The shadowy, brooding drama and chiaroscuro of the artist’s work captures the delicate interplay between lightness and darkness in a way which acts as a visual metaphor for the vagaries of human existence; alluding to the idea that the beauty and fragility of life are inseparable from the horror and sorrow which accompany it. The resulting emotional pull resonates with and touches some deep inner core which resides within all humanity, transporting us away from our everyday existence. In this way, Ong’s photographs and video works, which are at once both beautiful and frightening, achieve a timeless, unknown, almost half forgotten quality or existence which touches upon ideas of life, death and morality.

Ben is currently showing work as part of Decisive Moments, a photography exhibition at Contact Sheet gallery - as reviewed in the Sydney Morning Herald and the Mosman Daily...

CLAUDE JONES / IN STUDIO WITH THE ARTIST

Claude Jones takes aim at man's exploitation of animals through her intentionally subversive art. 

Known for her poignant and childlike collages and drawings and potent mixed media sculptures, Claude Jones has undertaken specialist international study programs and associated residencies to develop her ceramic skills for her current exhibition, Broken, on show at Artereal Gallery throughout the month of November. 

The medium is naturally suited to this body of work, which takes aim at the broken bodies and trust of man's deceitful relationship with animals.  

In the lead up to her exhibition, Claude Jones documented her creative practice, experimentation with ceramics and her works in progress through this intimate series of in-studio photographs, taken during her recent residency in Mexico and more recently, at Sydney College of the Arts.

Claude Jones' solo exhibition, Broken, is now on at Artereal Gallery until Saturday 29 November 2014.
 

Endangered species (pictured above as a work in progress) is a cluster of ceramic, pale, embryonic, cloned and mutant hybrid creatures that huddle together seemingly for protection. They are drawn from species that are introduced; a mix of fox, deer and rabbit. All are animals that are hunted or 'culled' in Australia, seen as pests for both flora and fauna, and as the artist notes, "a threat to the illusive construct of balanced ecology. - Barbara Dowse, Curator

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CLAUDE JONES / NEW COLLABORATIONS, NOMINATIONS AND SHOWS

Image: Peculiar Annes (Cleo Gardiner, Claude Jones, Jane Parker Smith), Seraph, 2014

With new collaborations, group shows, award nominations and a solo exhibition in the works, the past few months have seen artist Claude Jones keeping very busy.

Following on from her ceramic residencies in the Netherlands and at Sydney College of the Arts, the artist will exhibit new ceramic sculptures and mixed media works on paper in a solo exhibition, entitled Broken, opening at Artereal Gallery 5 November.

She is also one of nine artists exhibiting in ‘The Elephant in the Room’ at Brenda May Gallery, 4 – 29 November, an exhibition that will raise money for The Animal Welfare League.

Jones continues to be motivated by a strong conviction in the need to re-assess our relationship with other animals, with her practice an ongoing exploration the role human intervention plays in animal biology.

Her sculpture work ‘Seraph’ completed with Jane Parker-Smith and Cleo Gardner as part of their newly formed collaboration ‘Peculiar Annes’ has been selected as a finalist in the Woollahra Small Sculpture Prize. This work will be on display at Woollahra Council Chambers from 18 October – 2 November.

‘Peculiar Annes’ will also exhibit a sculptural installation entitled ‘Bodies, Ritual and Desire’ at ‘Hidden’ at Rookwood Cemetary’s annual sculpture walk, taking place between 14 September and 12 October.

A new work on paper that will be on display at Artereal Gallery this November has also been selected as a finalist in the Flanagan Art Prize.

For more information on Claude Jones, please visit http://www.artereal.com.au/home/claude-jones