Sydney-born, London-based video artist Shaun Gladwell is one of Australia’s most important and successful contemporary artists. Since he emerged onto the international scene in 2000, Gladwell has exhibited throughout Australia and around the globe, cementing his status as one of the world’s most innovative video artists. He represented Australia at the 53rd Venice Biennale and travelled to Afghanistan as the official Australian War Artist in 2009.Sydney’s Sherman Contemporary Art Foundation (SCAF) has brought Gladwell back to Sydney for a major project across two sites that reveals the breadth and scope of Gladwell’s creativity and ingenuity. SCAF features “The Lacrima Chair” a major new commission by Gladwell, and the UNSW galleries is the site of “Collection+: Shaun Gladwell”, a survey of Gladwell’s career and practice featuring more than 20 works that have been drawn from public and private collections worldwide.“The Lacrima Chair” (SCAF Project 24) at SCAF is an immersive installation comprising sculpture and video. It “engages the poetics of flight, travel, and cultural transmission, specifically French cultural influences within Australia and vice versa,” according to SCAF. Visitors enter the exhibition through a mist screen and can even choose to enhance their experience of the installation by getting into costume and sitting in an airplane chair under a shower of water.“Collection+: Shaun Gladwell” (SCAF Project 25) is curated by Dr Barbara Polla (Geneva-based) and Prof. Paul Ardenne (Paris-based). The exhibition focuses on “Gladwell’s interest in ornithology, wider thinking on flight, notions of the ‘double,’ and problems with representing conflict.” It includes paintings from his time in Afghanistan as an official war artist, the early video piece “Double Linework,” 2000, as well as his recent installation “The Flying Dutchman in Blue,” 2013.For the Collection+ series of exhibition, curators are invited to select a single artist from the Gene & Brian Sherman Collection and research national and international collections to identify complementary or contrasting work by the same artist. Polla and Ardenne have selected works by Gladwell from The Gene & Brian Sherman Collection which are shown alongside significant pieces from private and public collections both in Australia and internationally to provide an insight into the artist in mid-career.“Shaun Gladwell: The Lacrima Chair” (SCAF Project 24) and “Collection+: Shaun Gladwell” (SCAF Project 25) will be on show at SCAF and UNSW Galleries respectively from March 6, 2015 until April 25, 2015. - See more at: http://au.blouinartinfo.com/news/story/1064106/scaf-sydney-announces-major-shaun-gladwell-project#sthash.f7Nw6DLD.dpufVideo and interview by Nicholas Forrest“Shaun Gladwell: The Lacrima Chair” (SCAF Project 24) and “Collection+: Shaun Gladwell” (SCAF Project 25) are at SCAF and UNSW Galleries respectively until April 25, 2015.Follow @ARTINFO_Aus
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