brendan van hek artwork

brendan van hek

artist in residence 2017

Sydney-based artist Brendan Van Hek returns to Perth in 2017 for his first exhibition at Turner Galleries.

The continual condition is an exhibition of new works in neon, furniture and glass forms, presented as arrangements across the gallery space. These latest works build on Brendan's extensive use of neon, while reconnecting to early beginnings when furniture was used recurrently in sculptures and installations. This work also sees a new direction in his practice through glass elements that were developed on a residency and in subsequent close collaboration with the Canberra Glassworks.

The works exhibited at Turner assemble disparate elements in a tentative, precarious and unexpected manner. They find a balance point between need and support - the neon is supported by the furniture and in turn it provides the furniture with a sense of purpose; the glass objects and furniture are lit by the neon and they in turn prop the neon up, and so on. The arrangements are like an encounter - separate things come together and find a way of interacting and relating, finding a momentary balance.

The exhibition is followed by a one-month residency that is supported by Turner Art Angels, which will allow Brendan re-connect with the Perth art community through a series of talks and meetings and will see him work closely with local neon manufacturers to develop new work through dedicated studio time.

Brendan graduated with Honours from Curtin University Western Australia in 2001. He has exhibited widely nationally, including: Spring 1883, Windsor Hotel, Melbourne, and Static and Silence at the Lock-up Gallery, Newcastle in 2016; Colour Restraint (with Rebecca Baumann), Campbelltown Arts Centre, 2015; turn the night to day, Sarah Cottier Gallery, Sydney, in 2015; LUMINOUSFLUX, Lawrence Wilson Art Gallery, Perth, 2013; NEW11, ACCA; Some Kind of Love Story, Anna Schwartz Gallery Sydney, 2011; TWMA Contemporary 2010, Tarrawarra Museum of Art; and A Certain Slant of Light, Perth Institute of Contemporary Arts, 2009.

Brendan has also exhibited internationally in Amour Fou, New Westminster New Media Gallery, Vancouver, Canada; Shifting Geometries, The Australian Embassy, Washington DC, USA and Becoming: Worlds In Flux, C24 Gallery, Chelsea, New York, USA. In 2012 he undertook a residency at ISCP, New York, and was the recipient of a Mid-Career Fellowship from the Department of Culture and the Arts WA, and in 2013 a Mid-Career New Work Grant from the Australia Council for the Arts. His work is in various collections including: the Art Gallery of Western Australia, Artbank, Westpac, Australian Embassy Washington, Murdoch University, Lawrence Wilson Art Gallery, HolmesáCourt, and private collections nationally.