...of script and fracture... Recent work: painting, calligraphy, film | Catherine Bainbridge

Two Shanks, a play by Daniel Keene (Dreamers, 2014), was recently filmed in memory of Lewis Fiander, who first played the central role in the theatre production of the same name. The film and images in the piece probe the abstract ideas circulating around the words of the script, their written appearance, and spoken meaning. The sequenced paintings by Catherine Bainbridge convey one set of interpretations, and others from the script acted and filmed. Marco Chiappi plays the role of the late Lewis Fiander. Filming, soundscapes and editing by Philippe Charluet.

A second series of paintings and prints by Catherine Bainbridge form the second part of the exhibition, resulting from observations of the natural world and the experiencing of the surrounding space. Sometimes, these are seen as grand overviews from the air, or as close ups of tiny organisms and earth formations under magnification. These observations are taken back to the studio, analysed, worked up and sequenced, forming this organic series of paintings and prints.

Catherine Bainbridge is a contemporary Australian artist and teacher working from studios in Richmond and East Gippsland, Victoria. Catherine has taught at primary, secondary and tertiary levels, and went on to develop her own teaching practice in and around Melbourne. She has taught all age levels in the wider community, in painting, drawing, printmaking and 2D work. Catherine also ran workshops for artists with intellectual disabilities for over twenty years. Catherine's work in the last decade has been dedicated to the exploration of abstraction in its many forms "“ and her forms. She has spent time, often on her own, in the bush throughout Australia and overseas in Scandinavia, UK, India, Europe and the USA.

Daniel Keene is an Australian playwright who has written for the theater since 1979. Keene's plays have been performed in Australia, France, Spain, Germany, Belgium, Switzerland, Spain and Portugal, and the United States. He has won the Victorian Premier's Literary Award for Drama twice, the NSW Premier's Literary Award for Drama three times, the Adelaide Festival Award for Literature, the Wal Cherry Play of the Year Award and the Sumner Locke Elliot Prize (New York) and the Sidney Myer Performing Arts Award. He has also been awarded, with Ariette Taylor, the Kenneth Myer Medallion for the Performing Arts for his contribution to Australian theatre with the Keene/Taylor Theatre Project.