Robbie Karmel
23 January - 8 April 2012
Tower Studio
Residency Dates: 23 January - 8 April 2012
Studio Opening: Friday 23 March, 6pm
During his residency at PICA, Robbie Karmel will extend his inquiries into drawing on non-flat surfaces and working with static and animated projection as a means of informing drawing. Karmel will also develop his traditional drawing skills in an effort to apply conventional means of representational drawing to contemporary, non-traditional processes and outputs.
Engaging with the space of the studio, Karmel will extend his drawings into roof corners and spaces as well as into external, public spaces, creating a sustained drawing project. He will construct works using tiled sheets of paper and, as the space reaches capacity, panels of tiled paper will be replaced or reapplied directly over the top of works. In removing the drawings from their original spaces and separating the segments they lose their photographic and mimetic qualities, remaining as detritus or artefact.
With his project, Karmel continues to share inquiries with other visual artists working within means of representation and expression that involve experimental use of space, surface, spatial awareness and techniques such as blind drawing and projections.
Artist Biography
Robbie Karmel's practice is a means to drive and extend the inquiry into the act of drawing, creating and communicating. He uses techniques such as blind drawing, drawing by touch, drawing with both hands at the same time, drawing two different subjects simultaneously with both hands, drawing on surfaces that are not flat - such as the inside corners of cubes - tracing from moving projections and projections onto uneven surfaces and drawing with pens attached to five or ten fingers. Karmel forces his brain and hands to operate in new ways, performing tasks that they haven't previously performed and intentionally pressing himself into a state of cognitive overload. He believes working counter-intuitively in this way sets up deliberately impossible tasks, creating an artificial imperative.
Robbie Karmel graduated from the Australian National University School of Art in 2008 from the Printmedia and Drawing department with first class honours. He has had solo exhibitions in Canberra and Melbourne and has been involved in numerous group exhibitions. His practice incorporates drawing, print, painting, video work and installation. In 2009, he underwent a residency at Megalo Print Studios under the Emerging Artist Support Scheme, as well as winning First Prize at the M16 Drawing Prize. In 2010, he was selected as a finalist in the National Portrait Gallery's National Youth Self Portrait Prize.
To see more of Robbie's work, visit here
Image: Robbie Karmel, Untitled, 2012. Pencil on paper, mirror. Courtesy of the artist.
