undo the day

Karen Black, 'She is the moon', 2023, oil on canvas, 213.6cm x 198.5cm. Courtesy of the artist and Sutton Gallery, Melbourne

undo the day has been put together as way to reflect on the human response to move toward the light when one is in darkness. In darkness there is less definition, more uncertainty. In darkness, there is an instinctual urge to find a way forward with more than just what we can see, we must feel our way too. A flicker or a spark can be enough to offer hope, even if it is blurred and ambiguous in the beginning. We rely on the light for orientation, to mark the distance between what we desire, what we are looking for, and sometimes what we know.  

The artists in undo the day work in and around abstraction and figuration. They explore the visceral ways we lose, search and discover ourselves in times of change, only to have love, hope or desire bloom again in new forms and perhaps outside of the bounds we once defined for ourselves.  

Artists include:  Karen Black, Nathan Hawkes, Irene Hanenbergh, Ruth Hutchinson, Nabilah Nordin, Mel O’Callaghan, Tom Polo, Ronan Pirozzi, Jodie Whalen and Coen Young

Guest Curator: Gina Mobayed   

EXHIBITION DATES:

14 June – 3 August 2024

11am – 5pm

NAS Galleries

Gina Mobayed in conversation with Karen Black and Jodie Whalen


Admission $10.00. NAS students free. Bookings essential

 

Join Gina Mobayed, guest exhibition curator in conversation with artists Karen Black and Jodie Whalen. Together the trio will discuss and reflect on the ‘undo the day’ exhibition rationale, and emerging themes regarding human instinct, liminality, the blurred lines between darkness and light, and sitting with ambiguity while reaching for hope.

BOOK HERE

Saturday 20 July 2024

3 – 4pm

NAS Galleries

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What's happening at the National Art School on 6 September? RSVP to our Open Day today to find out. (Link in bio)
Hear artist James Nguyen (@jamesnguyens) discuss the process of his artwork ‘Homeopathies_where new trees grow’ (2025), a site-specific installation created for The Neighbour at the Gate, now on at NAS Gallery.

In response to the exhibition, Nguyen created a large-scale suspended textile, dyed with introduced weeds and contaminated mud collected along the Duck River and Parramatta River in Sydney. These local sites, like many places in Vietnam, continue to be contaminated by Agent Orange, dioxins and toxic leachates that account for the industrial scale manufacturing of chemical weapons along Homebush Bay.

The Naarm/Melbourne-based, Vietnamese Australian artist positions his personal experiences and perspectives in dialogue with others in his interdisciplinary practice, moving between live and online performance, video, drawing and installations. This work was made in conjunction with Nguyen’s aunt, Nguyễn Thị Kim Nhung, and uncle, Nguyễn Công Chính, who you can hear in conversation with the artist in the Artist Talks archive on our website.

The Neighbour at the Gate is now on until Saturday 18 October 2025. 11am – 5pm, Monday to Sunday. Plan your visit at the link in bio.

The Neighbour at the Gate has been made possible with the generous support of the NSW Government through its Blockbusters Funding initiative.
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