Asialink

japan

Ben Morieson

Ben Morieson (2006), japan

Ben Morieson has exhibited and created on-site works and installations that seek to engage uninitiated audiences.  By using popular marketing tools, Morieson's work invites the viewer to question the integrity of the very medium through which he seeks to communicate.  He has exhibited in galleries throughout Australia and in Germany, Switzerland, England and China. In Japan, he created a site-specific work involving a giant canvas and remote controlled cars with the assistance of local school children at the Matsudai Snow Agrarian centre as part of the Echigo-Tsumari Triennial.

Funded by the Australia Council and Arts Victoria.
Bic Tieu

Bic Tieu (2010), japan

Bic Tieu is a Sydney-trained artist and teacher with a special interest in makie, the traditional Japanese technique built up from thin layers of lacquer followed by metallic dustings and rubbings. Tieu’s practice draws inspiration from the colours and sensibility of the seasons inherent in Asian aesthetics. Her work reinterprets these esoteric and ancient crafts within the language of contemporary jewellery and objects. During her residency at the Kitamura Studio in Japan, specific traditional makie techniques will be studied. These will then be reinterpreted and applied in a contemporary Western setting in Australia.

Supported by Arts NSW and the Australia-Japan Foundation.
Denis Beaubois

Denis Beaubois (2006), japan

Mauritius-born Denis Beaubois’ practice includes performance, video and photography.  He has performed with groups such as Post Arrivalist, and Gravity Feed.  Beaubois was artist-in-residence at Artist Unlimited (Germany) and The University of New South Wales.  His residency at Youkobo Artspace Japan resulted in the consolidation, creation and exhibition of three new works from the Terminal Vision project.  Another major exhibition is planned in Japan in 2008 along with numerous other opportunities for future engagement with Japanese curators and artists.

Funded by the Australia Council and Arts NSW.
Lucas Chirnside and Bianca Looney

Bianca Looney and Lucas Chirnside (2011), japan

Collaborative duo Bianca Looney and Lucas Chirnside (aka SMLWRLD) create research-intensive art and design projects ranging from small handcrafted objects to large-scale architectural works in the urban realm. Recent projects include Polytopia, exhibited at the Design Museum London in 2010. At 3331 Arts CYD in Tokyo SMLWRLD will research patterns of urban life in Tokyo within the framework of their ongoing mapping project Geophil. Looney and Chirnside aim to support a new model of arts engagement beyond the existing gallery and museum system. (SUPPORTED BY THE AUSTRALIA COUNCIL FOR THE ARTS AND THE AUSTRALIA-JAPAN FOUNDATION)

Will French

Will French (2010), japan

Will French works across a range of media and explores a vast array of themes, from cultural history to rock & roll tragedy, responding to these with playful wit and wry humour. He completed a Masters in Visual Arts at Sydney College of the Arts in 2005 and was the 2008 recipient of the Fauvette Loureiro Memorial Artist Travel Scholarship and 2009 Redlands Westpac Emerging Art Prize. Whilst in residency at Tokyo Wonder Site, French intends to delve into Japanese subcultures, and reflect on the impact spending the majority of his childhood in South East Asia has had on his current art making process. He will also be partaking in an on-site workshop focused on the theme of ‘Creative Dialogue and Commitment to the Environment’.

Supported by the Australia Council.
Sarah Goffman

Sarah Goffman (2011), japan

Sarah Goffman specialises in site-specific projects and installations using mixed media. She is the former Co-Director of Elastic Projects, founded in 2000 as well as firstdraft gallery. Sarah recently completed a residency in Tokyo where she collaborated with a group of Japanese dancers called SML. During her residency at Tokyo Wonder Site, Sarah will further her conceptual body of work that focuses on opposing subject matter including garbage and beautification. (SUPPORTED BY THE AUSTRALIA COUNCIL FOR THE ARTS AND THE AUSTRALIA-JAPAN FOUNDATION)

Michael Schlitz (2001), japan

Michael Schlitz has a Master of Arts from the Tasmanian School of Art, and has also taught and studied in the ACT and Queensland.  He has exhibited as a printmaker since 1991 and is well known for his whimsical etchings. During his 2001 residency in Japan Schlitz undertook an intensive study of traditional woodblock printing with master printmakers on Awaji Island at Nagawawa Art Park. The artist also established several valuable connections with local artists and residency participants and continued to work collaboratively with artist Hiroke Satake on a book of woodblock imagery and text.

Funded by Arts Tasmania and the Nagasawa Art Park Committee.

Lucy Bleach

Lucy Bleach (2009), japan

Lucy Bleach works within an installation–based practice, developing works that explore and reflect the way we engage with the world. Bleach lectures at the Tasmanian School of Art in Sculpture and Core Studies and exhibits both locally and nationally. While in Japan, she was a participating artist in the 2009 Echigo Tsumari Triennial where she worked within the community to explore notions of touch. Researching local domestic, industrial and agricultural materials, Bleach also experimented with ways to inhabit the site of the community and the art Triennial.

Supported by Arts Tasmania and The Australia Council. 

James Lynch (2007), japan

James Lynch works across various media including drawing, installation, painting and animation and is a founding member of the collaborative group Damp. He has created a series of artworks and animations, based on a collection of people's dreams in which he has appeared, which mediate our often conflicted and ambivalent relationships with the other. Lynch developed an exhibition The Drunken Soldier and Other Melodies that was exhibited at his host organisation Tokyo Wondersite. He also participated in LIVE - the Tokyo Digital Art Festival.

Supported by Arts Victoria and the Australia Council.

Kate Rohde

Kate Rohde (2008), japan

Since graduating in 2001, Kate Rohde has held several solo exhibitions and been involved in numerous group shows. Her work is held in public and private collections across Australia. Rohde's sculptures and installations are comprised of a wide range of craft and hardware material, including resins, fake fur, expanding foam and rice paper, loosely exploring themes surrounding humanity's relationship to nature. While undertaking her residency at Tokyo Wonder Site in Japan, she gathered research material to inspire and influence a new body of work, particularly drawing on the use of kitsch in Japanese pop-culture.

Supported by Arts Victoria and the Australia Council.

Suzanne Knight (2002), japan

Printmaker Suzanne Knight extends her practice to drawing and textiles. Knight has worked for a number of years as a lithographic editions printer in Canberra and Darwin, working with Aboriginal, non-Indigenous and Asian artists and completed her Masters degree at the Canberra School of Art in 1996. Her work has been exhibited in Poland, Japan, Indonesia, Singapore and Australia. During her residency at Nagasawa Art Park Knight explored techniques of Japanese woodblock printing with master craftspeople. Since returning to Australia she has incorporated her experiences through exploring Japanese advertising and digital media/screen printing as well as continuing practice into Japanese woodblock techniques in a new body of work. 
Owen Leong

Owen Leong (2009), japan

An inter-disciplinary artist exploring race and transformation, Owen Leong works with photography, video and installation. His practice examines how the body is physically, socially and culturally framed. Leong has held residencies at Chinese Arts Centre, Manchester and Cité des Arts, Paris and exhibited widely in Australia and internationally. During his residency at Tokyo Wonder Site, he conducted research on the history of the body and performance in contemporary Japanese art, and developed a new series of photographic portraits based on studies of subcultures in Tokyo.

Supported by The Australia Council.