26 March – 12 April 2020
about the exhibition
Jörg Schmeisser, an indefatigable traveller, was a deep observer of cultural specificities. Arising from his periods in the Middle East, Europe, South East Asia, the USA, Antarctica, Japan and central and coastal Australia, his images are characterised by masterfully rendered detail, often overlaid by gestural lines and script, with many featuring abstracted motifs referring to their place of origin. Ordering, processing and synthesising the elements of his visual experience, Jörg alternated between, and often combined, grand landscape narratives and meticulous studies of flora and fauna. Many of his works constitute complex visual diaries of the places that he experienced. As time passes, some of his images seem precious records of cultures now effaced by globalism.
Jörg Schmeisser trained in art in Hamburg before gaining a scholarship to study in Kyoto, where he first exhibited in 1969. Having returned to Hamburg to teach, he was Head of Printmaking at the Canberra School of Art from 1978 to 1997.. He taught for a further six years in Japan before returning to Canberra in 2008. Over the course of his career to 2012, he held more than 200 solo exhibitions. Jörg’s work is represented in many of the world’s notable collections including the British Museum and Victoria and Albert Museum in London, the Bibliothèque Nationale de France, New York’s Museum of Modern Art, Dresden’s Staatliche Sammlungen, Cologne’s Museum fur Ostasiatische Kunst and the National Gallery of America. In Australia, his work is held in all major state galleries as well as the National Gallery of Australia. Works in ‘The journey continues’ are drawn substantially from the collection of the Schmeisser family. The Gallery is grateful for the assistance of Keiko Amenomori Schmeisser in bringing the exhibition to fruition.
To view the exhibition in person, please make an appointment.
