10 - 28 March 2005
about the exhibition
A consummate printmaker, painter and drawer, John Pratt is primarily concerned with landscape and its relationship with the human figure. In his images, the boundaries between the figure and its environment are dissolved, each serving as a visual metaphor for the existence of the other. These very lyrical works are deliberate in their ambiguity, and offer a very original interpretation of ‘landscape’. The works in this exhibition are a combination of etching and relief printing. John describes his current work as “…part of an ongoing exploration of the meaning imbued in a range of simple physical gestures – walking, holding, reaching, standing and falling. They refer to the tenuous states of being which are braced by references to landscape and text. These two elements provide not only a spatial context but also locate these activities into a broader and more precarious state of being.” This is John’s third exhibition at Beaver Galleries.
John Pratt is an established Canberra printmaker, known for his work with children and youth groups. He is a lecturer in the Printmedia and Drawing Workshop at the National Institute of the Arts, and has frequently exhibited interstate and in Europe. In 2002 he was part of the exhibition ‘The Sleep of Reason” at the Canberra Museum And Gallery which received the Canberra Critics Circle Award. John is represented in many public collections, including The National Gallery of Australia, Australian National University, Canberra School of Art Collection, State Library of NSW, Queensland Art Gallery, Print Council of Australia, Canson Australia Pty Ltd., KPMG, Ipswich Regional Art Gallery QLD, Lawrence Wilson Art Gallery, University of WA, Sydney College of the Arts, Campbelltown Regional Gallery, NSW, Fremantle Art Centre, WA , Central Queensland University and Latrobe University Art Gallery, Victoria.
