Wednesday 13 January 2016

Exposed art exhibition - Midsumma Festival preview


MrPeeDee by Ross Spirou
While there are many theatre and stage productions on during the Midsumma Festival, there are also a large number of art exhibitions happening around Melbourne. One of these, Exposed, has two artists, Ross Spirou and Steve Edwards, presenting works in different art styles but with similar themes and ideas. Both were winners of last year's Men On Men Art Competition with Spirou winning the Grand Prize and Edwards winning the People's Choice Awards, and as part of that, they have the opportunity to display their work in a joint exhibition at The Laird Hotel during the festival.

"
I love to share my art and passion with the world and this exhibition is allowing me to do just that and of course, it is also nice to be part of MidSumma!" Spirou explains. "
We enter competitions and hold exhibitions to let the world know that we are here and this is what we do and Exposed is another step taken towards reaching a greater audience. The name of our exhibition is very appropriate as we will be exposing our art and who we are as artists to the community and hopefully beyond."
These sentiments are also shared by Edwards who will be displaying works with a form he has recently begun working with. "For me, this exhibition will be exposing my latest artistic direction into New Media and Generative Art. Exposed is a chance to be a bit risqué so I will be showing a new, slightly more erotic series called ‘Degeneration'," he explains.

"New Media and Generative Art has allowed me to combine many different mediums into my work.
I have created codes that allow me to use photos I’ve taken as source images and to code my own dynamic digital paint brushes as well as combining many other sources of data including sound and video. It’s confusing but I think the results show how much it has broadened my creative scope and I have been getting a lot of attention online for this new direction. It will be good to bring it into the real world for this exhibition," Edwards says. 


Mr Five by Steve Edwards
By contrast, Spirou has been working with photography from the moment he bought a camera when he was 18 years old. "Photography allows me to express myself in many ways. I love capturing moments in time whether it be people, landscapes etc and  being able to capture the emotion my models portray," he says.
While he concedes that there are constant challenges with creating art, it is something he happily faces. "It ranges from finding the right people to collaborate with to finding locations for artistic nude photography and new locations in general for landscape photography. Sometimes it is getting up at 2am for a sunrise shoot, staying up all night to photograph the stars, getting struck by giant waves and breaking a tripod while running away from them!"

"Artists always face more challenges than most people, with the main one being that we all love to be recognised for the artists that we are and we all love to see our art viewed and respected for what it is," Spirou concludes. "In saying that, I am happy with what I do, happy with my style and more than anything, being an individual in a world full of artists is what I am proud of!"
 


Venue: The Laird Hotel, 149 Gipps Street, Abbotsford 3067
Season: 16 January - 5 February | standard bar hours
Tickets:
FREE
Further Information:
Midsumma Festival

NB: Open Day: Saturday 16 January 2016. 3pm - 6pm. (Women welcome, otherwise, men only. 18yo+)

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