Ash Keating to create massive artwork in free outdoor show on Wednesday
Acclaimed artist Ash Keating will paint a nine-metre art work outside Noosa Regional Gallery on Wednesday, October 9, in a free public art event.
It’s the first time Keating has brought his live performance style of art to a public event in Queensland.
The Melbourne artist will begin work on the giant artwork from 8am and complete the piece by 11am.
Sea FM’s popular breakfast radio show will broadcast live from the event, which sets the scene for the upcoming Floating Land: point to point biennale to be held from October 12 to 27.
Keating will use pressurised paint to create the piece across nine metres of canvas.
“I don’t work with a brush or anything direct to the canvas. I keep myself at a distance. I want to make marks with gestures,” he explains.
It is the physical act of painting - the performance as a process, which denotes Keating’s artistic practice.
He says: “It is a bit of a playground of expressive painting because I don’t plan what I do.”
Instead, Keating approaches his work instinctively, the unpredictability of his process producing works he describes as “a surprise” even to himself.
“Some people love it, some people don’t…I (aim to) make work that has the capacity to be positive for any viewer.”
Ash Keating began creating large-scale murals on concrete walls in 2004, transforming blank, visually oppressive spaces in Melbourne into magnificent studies of colour. His work continues to attract significant attention.
He brings abstract art out of the confines of the studio and gallery context and on to the streets.
“It’s incredibly exciting to be hosting Ash for this live performance and to include his impressive paintings in Floating Land this year,” Noosa Regional Gallery Director Michael Brennan said.
“The scale of Ash’s works has become increasingly ambitious. Recent undertakings at the Domain in Sydney and Tarrawarra Museum of Art in Victoria are both considerable in their size. Keating’s Noosa event will present the public with a rare opportunity to see a large-scale work in the making.”
Keating has been the recipient of multiple distinguished art prizes including the Incinerator Art Prize (2015), Guirguis New Art Prize (2013) and the Substation Contemporary Art Prize (2012).
His works are held in multiple public and private collections including National Gallery of Victoria, National Gallery of Australia, Museum of Contemporary Art, Art Gallery of New South Wales, Monash University Museum of Art and Artbank.
The Ash Keating: Public Art Performance will take place at Noosa Regional Gallery on October 9, 2019 between 8am and 11am.
Sea FM’s BarRat and Heidi will broadcast live onsite from 6am to 9am.
Attendance at the performance and radio broadcast is free. Visit the Gallery's website.
3 October 2019