ARTIST STATEMENT
If I come across an idea
worth pursuing, I am not really bothered by how to get to it. As long
as the path I take towards the idea is mentally honest, considerate.
Theoretical schemes form as each painting develops around the idea.
It would be stupid of me to let people off the hook by feeding them statements
about the work. It underrates the viewer. A title gets away with suggestion,
and for me that’s all it is. Recently I considered calling each
painting the same thing.
I want things to get more fluid, but that only works when the static elements
of a composition are there to balance it. Everything contains stillness,
but it’s difficult to paint.
I like there to be splinters in the actuality of a picture. The possibility
of margins opening and closing briefly to reveal a glimpse of a coincident
place.
Oil paint is sexy (in a tradition-conscious way).
-Darren Porter 2009
SOLO
EXHIBITIONS
2009 Jackman Gallery, Melbourne
2007 Jackman Gallery, Melbourne
2005 Mind and Counter Mind, Brightspace Gallery, Melbourne
2000 The Eraser Triangle, Flying Rhino, London
1996 Sound-giant, RMIT Gallery, Tolarno’s, St Kilda, Melbourne
SELECTED GROUP
SHOWS
2007 6 Degree Prize, Frankston Arts Centre
2004 I-Candy, North Melbourne Town Hall, Melbourne
1999 Forged Eclipse, TIP, London
1998 Blank Fever, Who’s What, Oslo, Norway
1997 Five Quiet Years, St Kilda Town Hall, Melbourne
1996 Re-productions, RMIT Gallery, Tolarno’s, St Kilda, Melbourne
1995 Ink Splashes, Tattoo Pete’s, Amsterdam
1994 Little People, Fiona James, London
1990 Gippsland Art Prize
1989 The Brush and the Hammer, Spoleto Fringe Gallery, Fitzroy
AWARDS
2006 Monash University, Board of Examiners Commendation
2005 Monash University, Postgraduate Academic Merit Scholarship
2002 Australia Council for the Arts, New Work Development Grant
1999 Artist in Residence, Flying Rhino Studio, London
1990 Gippsland Art Prize, Local Environments Award
1988 National Gallery Society Award
1986 George Hicks Award
COLLECTIONS
London Royal Academy of Arts
Oslo Academy
Burton Collection (U.K.)
City of Port Phillip, Melbourne
Private Collections – Australia, Europe, India, U.S.A
HIGH IN THE MOUNTAINS
BALLAD OF A WEB FINGERED MAN
STOPOVER BLINKS
ALL SINS ARE DESTROYED BY THE FATIGUES OF WANDERING
THE ITINERANTS
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