Oil Veins on the Midlands

An internationally acclaimed exhibition of photographs taken by Sydney artist Ralph Kerle during kayak journeys on Sydney’s Middle Harbour will be opened by Steve Vizard from the Vizard Foundation at Melbourne art gallery Sagra on Wednesday 16 November.

The exhibition, Drawings On Water – Series 2, will run from 16 November till 3 December at Sagra, 256 Glenferrie Road, Malvern.

Around ten years ago, Ralph Kerle began kayaking on Middle Harbour as a way of finding a non-pharmaceutical remedy for depression. His morning ritual soon opened up a daily world of new perceptions; offering boundless moments of insight whilst connecting him as closely to nature as the indigenous inhabitants of Middle Harbour, the Cammeraygals.

"Drawings on Water visually explores the interplay between the surface of the waters of Middle Harbour as creative inspiration and the power of physical movement in kayaking to free the mind from mental darkness and to recharge the soul with the light of new thinking,’ says Kerle.

Following its Sydney premiere in March 2015, Ralph Kerle’s initial Drawings on Water exhibition traveled to Portugal and Latvia later in the year.

‘Drawings on Water is something very beautiful and—most importantly for us—unusual, different from other photos that we are used to seeing,’ commented Vineta Stražnova, curator at CREA in Riga, Latvia. ‘It is real photo art, because it is so natural (not photoshopped) and the colours are so vivid. The works have something in common with abstract art as well as what we can see and feel in real nature.’

Ralph Kerle is a multi-media artist using image, sound and text to create works that push the edges of art practices. Graduating from the Victorian College of The Arts majoring in Dramatic Arts in 1979, he owned the iconic Melbourne alternative cabaret venue, the Flying Trapeze Café in its heyday (1978-81). After a stint as Associate Director of the Sydney Theatre Company, he became a pioneer in the creation and production of digital multi-media live performance art shows in Australia in the early 90s. The Drawings on Water photographic series sees him return to a single image practice. His work is now in private and corporate collections in Australia, India, Latvia, Russia and Singapore.

Dates:

Opening: Wednesday 16 November at 6.00 p.m. RSVP

Exhibition: Wednesday 16 November - Sunday December 4 2016

Further information is available at Ralph Kerle's Art. To arrange an interview please contact Ralph on 0412 559 603.