Along a field of lost marbles

On Friday night I attended the opening of Ryan McGennisken's fourth solo exhibition, at House of Bricks, Collingwood. The exhibition was a collection of new works - small and large scale illustrations and installations, and a short black & white video. As always, Ryan swept us away from the concrete jungle in which we live in, to a mystical place of animals, spirits and ghosts. His drawings have evolved into highly detailed illustrations - the fur and hair of the animals presented were impressive and contrasted against the human skulls painted in ink and watercolour. The installations were constructed from found branches and twigs - the larger installation resembling a tee-pee structure. Formed in the centre of the gallery, the two metre structure gave the space a feeling of being in a museum of a lost ancient civilisation. However all this was in tension with the video loop of footage Ryan filmed in the La Trobe Valley. The video delicately captured industrial sites & power stations from a distant view, and in viewing this with the adjacent artwork, the question of human impact on the natural world is posed.

 'Along a field of lost marbles' runs from 2/8/13 - 12/8/13.

www.mcgennisken.com

www.houseofbricks.net