vivonne thwaites
curator
tobias richardson
Demountable Miner's Hut (Hill End, NSW) 2008
acrylic on paper
76 x 57 cm
tobias richardson
Tobias Richardson has been a practicing artist since the late 1980s. First studying at the National Art School in Sydney and exhibiting in ARIs (artist-run initiatives) in Sydney, he later gained a BVA at the San Francisco Art Institute in California. Tobias has lived in the Northern Territory since 1997, teaching in remote Indigenous communities, lecturing at Charles Darwin University and working at the Museum and Art Gallery of the NT while maintaining a high exhibition and residence profile around the country and abroad. Recent exhibitions include Focus on Australian Contemporary Art at the Museum of Contemporary Art, Sydney 2007, Galeri Petronas, Kuala Lumpur 2008 and Turner Galleries Perth, WA 2009. Residences include: Kuala Lumpur 2007, Hill End NSW 2008, Central TAFE Perth WA 2009 and Cité Internationale des Arts Paris 2010. Tobias is currently completing a research project in sculpture at Charles Darwin University in the Northern Territory.
Tobias says of his works in this exhibition: "Each series, and my practice in general, are related to place. Travel and residencies fuel and diversify my practice that is unified by the common subject matter of the built environment as subject, a subject which in turn explores ideas of memory, history and place."
Hill End
In March 2008 I spent a month in Hill End, NSW on a residency program through Bathurst Regional Gallery. During my time there I produced a series a drawings and paintings depicting recent architecture as opposed to the heritage structures of the area. The demountable building became a dominant subject; ubiquitous buildings that can be schools, churches, miner's hut and so on.
Burma
I travelled to Burma in 2004 and again in 2005. During my travels there, and back in Darwin I created works on the contemporary buildings of Burma in an ongoing series New Asian Buildings; a series I have been revisiting for a decade or so through travel in South East Asia. New Asian Buildings focuses my fascination with contrasting architecture and thus melding cultures.
Kuala Lumpur
In 2007/08 I undertook a three months artist-in residency provided by Asialink, Melbourne, in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. While on the residency I continued my research through art making on the symbolism of contemporary architecture.