Wyer Gallery


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Christine Aerfeldt and Elinor Evans

11th September - 19th October 2008

Christine Aerfeldt, Ocean Knitter, oil on canvas, 180 x 160 cm, 2008

Elinor Evans, Posing with Lolita, oil on canvas, 156 x 191 cm, 2008

Review by Art Sleuth

Wyer Gallery is pleased to announce an exhibition of new paintings by Christine Aerfeldt and Elinor Evans. The show will feature depictions of women by both artists who each explore constructs of female identity in western art and explore how women are figured and fashioned in contemporary popular culture.

Christine Aerfeldt’s past work, informed by her Estonian heritage, featured kitsch figurines or dolls amongst manipulations of old master allegorical imagery. In a similar fusion of high and low cultures, Aerfeldt’s new paintings rethink Dutch 17th century genre paintings which show women within the domestic environment sewing, cleaning and cooking etc by depicting women, with postures derived from fashion models in magazines or on the catwalk, doing 'women's work' but re-contextualized within the landscape environment instead of inside the home.

Aerfeldt is a graduate of Chelsea School of Art and, formerly, Adelaide Central School of Art. Her work is found in public and private collections across the world, most recently those of Charles Saatchi and David Roberts. Her first solo show in the UK is with Wyer Gallery next year.

B. Adelaide, South Australia, lives in London and Montpellier EDUCATION 2007 MA Fine Art, Chelsea College of Art & Design, London 2001 Bachelor of Visual Art (Hons), Adelaide Central School of Art, South Australia 1998 New York Drawing Marathon, Adelaide Central School of Art, South Australia SOLO EXHIBITIONS 2006 Flying Visitation, Helen Gory Galerie, Melbourne, Australia 2004 heav'n & hell, Helen Gory Galerie, Melbourne, Australia 1999 A Very Modern Girl, Art Images, Adelaide, South Australia SELECTED GROUP EXHIBITIONS 2006 ABN AMRO 2006 Emerging Artist Award, ANZ Building Melbourne; I found myself in a strange place, Adelaide Central Gallery, Adelaide; National Works on Paper exhibition, Finalist, Mornington Peninsula Regional Gallery 2005 Luminous Two, Helen Gory Galerie, Melbourne; Whyalla Art Prize, Finalist, Whyalla Regional Gallery; 2003 SALA Festival Exhibition, Art Gallery of South Australia; Wit and Wisdom, Beauty and Truth, Barr Smith Library, University of Adelaide; Eleven, Cube Contemporary Art, Adelaide; White Lies Beneath, Helen Gory Galerie, Melbourne; Hatched, Perth Institute of Contemporary Art, Perth; Adelaide Contemporary, Eva Breuer Art Dealer, Sydney; 2002 Melbourne International Art Fair, Melbourne, with Cube Contemporary Art; Pure, Cube Contemporary Art, Adelaide; Synthetic Whispers, Helen Gory Galerie, Melbourne; If love fits, wear it, twinBEE Studios, Adelaide; 2001 Lo-Sheen, Adelaide Central Gallery, Adelaide; 7UP, Studio 91B , Adelaide; Helpmann Academy Graduate Exhibition, Adelaide 2000 Nocturnal Workings, State Library of South Australia, Adelaide 1999 Good Thinking, Art Images, Adelaide AWARDS 2006 Anne & Gordon Samstag Visual Arts Scholarship for overseas study; Project Assistance Grant, Arts SA; Finalist, National Works on Paper Award, Mornington Peninsula Regional Gallery, Victoria, Australia 2006 Finalist ABN AMRO Emerging Artist Award, Melbourne, Australia 2005 Finalist, Whyalla Art Prize, South Australia 2003 Project Assistance Grant, Arts SA 2002 Joint winner in category 'Rising Stars', 'The Advertiser' Oscarts 28/12/02 2001 Joint winner 'Best new talents', 'The Advertiser' Oscarts, 22/12/01 2000 Scholarship for full time studies, Adelaide Central School of Art.REVIEWS 2006 Emerging artists find fresh expression, Adam Dutkiewicz, The Independent Weekly, Sept 2-8 2006; 2005 Profiled in Art Almanac, Dec/Jan 2006 Issue, 2006; Festival full of fine moments, Wendy Walker, The Advertiser, 13/8/05; 2004 Preview, Misha Merz, Imprint Vol 39, No 1, Autumn 04; 2002 Whispering among the art, Rachelle Unreich, Melbourne Herald Sun, 20/7/02; 2001 Galleries come alive, Wendy Walker, The Advertiser, 13/8/01; Helpmann Graduate Art Exhibition, David O'Brien, dB Magazine, Issue 246; Moments of Surprise, Wendy Walker, The Advertiser 12/3/01 SELECTED ARTICLES & INTERVIEWS 2007 Best in show, Helen Sumpter, Time Out London, 13/6/07 p.46; In search of the next best thing, Simon Davis, The Evening Standard, London, 23/5/07; 2006 Two Samstag Scholars about to take flight, Stephanie Radok, Art Gallery Guide, Nov/Dec 2006; Young talent time, Margot Osborne, The Advertiser, 14/10/06 pg 4-5; Arts Breakfast, Interview, Radio Adelaide, 2/9/06; Cheeky tweak to realism, Patrick McDonald, The Advertiser, 25/8/06; World Art, Catherine Bauer, Adelaide Matters, June 2006; Two schools of thought, Tim Lloyd, The Advertiser, 4/2/06; 2005 The memorable:ephemeral, Samstag Catalogue Essay, Wendy Walker, November 2005; Samstag Scholarships for SA artists, Helpmann Academy Update, Issue 49; Put six artists in a room and look what you get, Patrick McDonald, The Advertiser, 2 3/7/05; 2004 heav'n & hell, Edward Colless, Catalogue essay, May 2004; Hell's Angels, Yen Magazine, April/May 2004; 2001 Emerging Artists, Adelaide Matters, July 2001; Cherryville artwork a symbol for exhibition, The Courier Newspaper, 28/2/01; Stateline - '7 UP', ABC TV, 3/08/01; Snapshot - The Graduates, ABC TV, 15/3/01; 2000 Successful Collision of Old and New, Sheila Bryce, Helpmann Academy Update, Issue 27 COLLECTIONS David Roberts; Saatchi Collection; Art Gallery of South Australia; Artbank; Stillwell Management Consultants; F H Faulding Pty Ltd; Private collections throughout Australia, Singapore and Europe

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Elinor Evans presents images of women in a similarly fetishised context to Aerfeldt. However, she uses her own body in her paintings as an act of empowerment, celebration and culpability; she uses masks to hint at an underlying discomfort and often derives poses that are reworked from paintings of the 18th century masters. In this way, she comments on mythologies of women in art history and explores contemporary political notions of femininity. But her work’s success is balanced on a taut interplay between playfulness and duplicity and eroticism.

Evans is a graduate of Chelsea School of Art and the Royal College of Art where in 2004 she won the Amlin Prize for most promising young artist. Welsh by origin (she won the Young Wales Exhibition in Conwy, North Wales, last year) Evans currently divides her time between Wales, London and Spain where she exhibits regularly and is a founding member of The Shaman Project, a moving exhibition of music, art and performance that has been based in Salamanca and Bilbao. Her paintings can be found in public and private collections across the world including, in her native Wales, the Welsh Museum and National Welsh Assembly, Cardiff.

B. Criccieth, North Wales,; lives in Spain EDUCATION 2005 Royal College of Art, MA Painting; 2003 Chelsea College of Art and Design, BA Hons Fine Art, Painting SOLO EXHIBITIONS 2006 NEW PAINTINGS, The Apartment, London 2005 The Corn Exchange Gallery, Edinburgh. 2004 Recent Drawings and Paintings, La Choza de Gredos, San Martin del Pimpollar, Avila, Spain; Elinor Evans, Recent Paintings, The Aviator Gallery, London. 2003 Drawings and Painting’s that represent Lucy Rees’s philosophy on Horsemanship, Becedas, Spain 2002 Elinor Evans recent paintings, Education Gallery, Oriel Mostyn Llandudno, North Wales. GROUP EXHIBITIONS 2006 The Shaman Project, Salamanca, Spain; Young Wales 6, Royal Cambrian Academy, Conwy 2005 New Paintings, Wyer Gallery, London; Open Exhibition, Royal Cambrian Academy, Conwy, Wales; Secrets Exhibition, The Royal College of Art, London; Like Nowhere Else, The Show 2005, Royal College of Art, London; Pen-Y-Fan Gallery, Breckon; London Art Fair, London.; A sharp intake of Breath, Contemporaryartwest, Beldam Gallery, London. 2004 Atlantic2, Foster Art Gallery, London; Xmas Tree, 39 Gallery, London; Waiting Rooms, Palmers Green Station, London. Painting Interim Show 2004, Henry Moore and Entrance Galleries, RCA, London. Other People, Three Colts Lane Gallery, London; Visual Arts Exhibition, National Eisteddfod, of Wales Newport; Welsh contemporary art Fair, Snowdon Mill, Porthmadog; Stereo White, Howie Street, London; Guild House curated by Roderic Barton, South Bermondsey, London.; Power!Clap Your Hands!Sucker!, The Chambers Gallery, London; The Spirit of the Llyn, Welsh Elements, Oriel Plas Glyn-Y-Weddw, Llanbedrog, N.Wales; Tenofthebest Art Review’s selected Graduates 2003, Deluxe Gallery, Hoxton, London; Miniatures, Sarah Myerscough Gallery, London. 2003 Secrets, Royal College of Art, London; Kyffin Williams, The Chapel, Abersoch, N.Wales; Summer Exhibition, Oriel Plas Glyn-Y-Weddw, Llanbedrog, N. Wales; Miscellaneous Debris, Century Gallery, Shoreditch, London; Young Wales6, The Royal Cambrian Academy Gallery, Conwy; Play and Direct, Century Gallery, Shoreditch, London PRESS Untitled Contemporary Art, number 33, Spring 2005; “Tu ol I’r Masgiau” Non Tudor, Golwg; Visual Arts Exhibition, Eisteddfod Genedleuthol Cymru, Newport and District (September 2004); Marmalade Magazine Issue 5, 2003. AWARDS 1st Prize, Young Wales 6, Royal Cambrian Academy, Conwy , North Wales; 1st Prize, Amlin Award, Royal College of Art, October 2004; 1st Prize Gold Medal for Fine Art, National Eisteddfod, Wales, August 2004; Stanley Spencer Award, January 2004; 3rd Prize Young Wales 6, March 2003 Public Collections Welsh Museum, Cardiff; National Welsh Assembly, Cardiff; Welsh Portrait Gallery, Conwy

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