Exhibitions Chelsea Gustafsson Fish Out of Water 27th September 2022 - 15th October 2022

In this new series of paintings Chelsea Gustafsson explores our cultural fascination with sharks. Whether triggering a primal fear or a sense of awestruck wonder, Gustafsson’s process of exploration aims to create a pause in which to consider our actions, why we respond the way we do towards challenges, and how we may use knowledge to improve both ourselves and the environments around us.

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ARTIST STATEMENT
450 million years ago the first ancestors of modern sharks were cruising the oceans, before trees and well before us. Fast forward through five mass extinctions, today their long and successful existence is under threat due to habitat loss, over fishing and climate change, that is to say, from us.

“The past always seems better when you look back on it than it did at the time. And the present never looks as good as it will in the future".
- Peter Benchley, Jaws

Whilst my entry point to this series of paintings comes from an environmental concern, my intention is not to educate or add to the noise, but rather share my fascination and awe for sharks and invite the audience to be swept along in discovering the many stories that surround these fish. Stories told through pop culture, conservationism, or historical accounts are installed into each still life as a postcard or images torn from magazines or books. The journey of developing the paintings is also a process of trying to make sense and create some kind of understanding and order. I find the preparation of selecting and laying out objects into still life arrangements as very contemplative, resulting in works that are introspective, occasionally melancholic and some glistening with humour.

Some elements allude to the obvious and I also like to play with some references to objects from 17th century vanitas, where artists used still lifes to remind their viewer of the transience of earthly pleasures and impermanence of power and wealth.

Having previously worked in film and television and as a graphic designer Gustafsson’s shift toward working as a professional artist has seen her exhibit both nationally and internationally, and be announced as a finalist in the Kennedy Prize (2021), Hurford Hardwood Portrait Prize (2018), Percival Tucker Portrait Prize (2018), the Black Swan Prize (2018), the Kennedy Art Prize (2018), the Eutick Memorial Still Life Award (2018), the Metro 5 Art Award (2007), the John Leslie Art Award (2008), the ANL Maritime Art Prize (2009) and winner of Linden Postcard Show in 2010.

CHELSEA GUSTAFSSON PROFILE
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Chelsea Gustafsson
Demon Fish with Pale Blue Dot 2022
oil on board
40cm x 50cm