Captivating for their bravura qualities, these works feature the leitmotif of biomorphic, ghost-like shapes or figures in overwhelming landscape settings. Are we witnessing a birthing process, or an entropic disaster? The striking atmospheric qualities, the delicate fields of layered, coloured wash recall the "falling worlds" of Chinese scroll painting. Paradoxically, there is also an ominous claustrophobia here with forms that appear trapped within the miasma. LAERK’s works suggest narratives that are central to colonising cultures for example being lost in the unmapped primal wilderness, or questions of origin and ultimate sustainability. Quite possibly the tantalising narrative arcs in the paintings are influenced by the artist's Maori heritage. Yet there is a distinct sense of much broader frames of reference in the making and finish of the works. Ultimately, the insistent polyvalent mysteriousness echoes a vast swathe of Romantic antecedents and cultural forms that oscillate across the pre historic, the Indigenous and the first worlds.

Cloudlands review Craig Judd

In Laerks practice the artist continues an exploration of the peripheral in society and cultural reclamation through painting, installation, mixed media through various display techniques. Working across public and private contexts, Laerk examines how class, privilege and the affects of colonisation shape identity and belonging. Laerk transforms these themes into contemporary meditations on inclusion, loss and the endurance of culture.

CV

Born Taupo, Aotearoa. Lives in Sydney, Australia

Education

2020 Ceramics with Haley West

2017 Charles Koroneho Performance Workshop: Tua o Te Arai- beyond the veil after death.

Scholarship recipient Critical Path Drill Hall, Sydney

2015 Master class- Ruth Hadlow

2012 Synergy Mentorship program NAVA

2011 Te Kura Ataarangi ki Poih Te Kura Ataarangi ki Poihaakena.
St George Migrant Centre. Maori language

2006 Certificate in Art Direction & Cinematography, AFTRS

2001 Post-Graduate Certificate in Sound Art, UTS

1993 Music Certificate: Vocals and composition AIM

1990 Bachelor of Arts (advanced standing): Sculpture, Film & Performance, SCA

1987 Art Certificate: Painting and Photography NAS

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Exhibitions

2023 Annual Group Exhibition LAERK Gallery

2021 Fishers Ghost Art Prize finalist Campbelltown Arts Centre

2018 The Apocalypse Tapestry of Darlinghurst Solo show, ESCAC Brand X

2018 Blacktown City Art Prize finalist Blacktown Arts Centre

2018 Locale, Gaffa Gallery

2017 Refuge Solo exhibition, Collab Gallery

2017 Transmute, Gallerie Pom Pom

2016 Fishers Ghost Art Prize finalist Campbelltown Arts Centre

2015 Fishers Ghost Art Prize finalist Campbelltown Arts Centre

2015 Blacktown City Art Prize finalist Blacktown Arts Centre

2015 Art at Night, Art Month

2014 We Are Family, Australian Centre for Photography (ACP)

2014 Plastic Oh No, Marrickville Garage

2014 Art at Night, Art Month

2013 A.R.P Live

2012 4A, Gallery 4A

2011 Strangelands Solo exhibition, Harrison Galleries

2011 Round too, A.R.P

2011 Shelf Life, Delmar Gallery


2011 Moran Contemporary Photographic Prize finalist NSW State Library

2010 Between A Rock & A Hard Place, Cockatoo Island

2010 Weave, Parramatta Artists’ Studios

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Grants

2018 City of Sydney Cultural Grant

2018 Linc cultural grant

2018 Galfa Cultural Grant

2011 Foto Riesel sponsorship

Public talks

2017 FavorEconomy, audio archive of female artists


2014 We Are Family, Australian Centre for Photography (ACP)


2013 Residency Symposium, National Association for the Visual Arts (NAVA)

2012 Synergy, National Association for the Visual Arts (NAVA)

Weave, Parramatta Artist’s Studios


Art & Co existence in Sydney, City of Sydney

2011 ARTMONTH Public Talks

Collections

Private collections in the Netherlands and Australia.

Arts Industry Projects

2020-2023

LAERK Gallery founded

2018-09

Founder Director

A.R.P Artists Residency Program, 50 artists, Cockatoo Island, Darlinghurst, Rocks, Sydney.

Sponsored by Arts NSW, City of Sydney, Sydney Foreshore Authority, Sydney Harbour Federation Trust

1996-11

Community development managing large scale indoor/ outdoor festivals/theatre projects

Minto: Live, Campbelltown Arts Centre

What I think about when I think About Dancing,Campbelltown Arts Centre

Currents, Parramatta Artists Studios

Quick & Dirty, Performance Space

2005-09

Installation coordination

Biennale of Sydney, 2006 and 2008;

Museum of Contemporary Art (MCA)

Venice Biennale, 2007, Venice, Italy;

Mosman Art Gallery

Stills Gallery, Sydney

1994-01

Art Department film roles:

Moulin Rouge, Bazmark productions

Farscape

Jim Henson Productions

Mother and Son

GP

Playschool