James Eisen’s new body of work focuses on an exchange of theoretical ideas using crime, security and disharmony within nature. Eisen utilises a combination of reflective material and holographic film found inside LCD displays collected from smart phones and computer screens. Under the surface lie images of flowerbeds, plants, David Attenborough, mountains, the natural and unnatural. Each work filters organic forms through his reclaimed machine-made lens, using layered dimensions, illusion, reflection and op art effects to mimic the incongruent nature of modern hyper-reality.
In recent work Andrew Long has explored abstracted portraiture, containing and concealing his subjects by placing blurred photographs in deliberately obstructive frames. His compositions of timber, glass, aluminium and mirror distort the conventional mode of viewing a framed image, accentuating the sculptural qualities of these raw materials. By offering a limited view of the image, the distance required to delineate abstraction and figuration is withheld – encouraging a sensorial interpretation in its place. In his work for Protective Pieces, a close-up photograph of a person or an architectural detail is held by a corresponding sculptural frame. ‘Open’ areas within individual structures are derived from the 18th century French trumeau frame, where an oil painting was often framed beneath or below a mirrored panel. Long’s works reinterpret the characteristics of the trumeau, using the mirror to alleviate the pressure of the ‘closed’ area. By observing the viewer’s encounter and carrying available light, the works articulate the present while also preserving a facsimile of the past.
James Eisen completed a Bachelor of Fine Art (Painting) from the Victorian College of the Arts in 2009. Solo exhibitions include Ididnttakeaphoto, Hell Gallery, Melbourne, 2013; SAYLE (Internal Painting~Valuable Gift), level 6, Curtin House, Melbourne, 2012; Deus Ex Machina, TCB Art Inc, Melbourne, 2011; Selected group exhibitions and projects include Abre Alas 8, A Gentil Carioca, Rio de Janeiro, Brasil, 2012; Im Sockel von Kreuzberg, Die Markthalle Neun, Berlin, Germany, 2011; Salat Fieber, TamTam, Berlin, Germany, 2011; and Swampland Intercoms, Rear View Gallery, Melbourne, 2011.
Andrew Long completed a Graduate Certificate in Visual Art at the Victorian College of the Arts in 2012 and is currently completing a Master of Fine Art at RMIT University, Melbourne. Recent exhibitions include Between Two States (with Marc Hundley), Ed. Varie, New York, 2012; CACSA Contemporary 2012: New South Australian Art, Contemporary Art Centre of South Australia; Public, Hugo Michell Gallery, Adelaide, 2011; Motion / Pictures, Gallery A.S at the Paramount Pictures Building, Sydney, 2011; and Points of View curated by Olivia Radonich, Tolarno Galleries, Melbourne, 2010.
