Melbourne-based contemporary artist Ash Keating will paint live on stage to a 12-piece ensemble by internationally acclaimed composer and producer Ryan Ritchie at Bunjil Place on Saturday 10 February.
The performance LIVE PRESSURE is part of his new exhibition PRESSURE at Bunjil Place.
Mr Keating and Mr Richie have collaborated on numerous projects since 2003; this will be their most ambitious undertaking to date, according to the two of them.
LIVE PRESSURE is said to widen the sensory experience through lighting and the dynamic music improvisations of Mr Ritchie’s 12-piece ensemble.
Mr Keating works within an expanded contemporary field through painting, performance, sculpture, video, and intervention.
His large outdoor murals, created with paint-filled fire extinguishers, can be found across Melbourne.
Over the past decade, he has cultivated a studio-based practice, working on canvases that allow for greater experimentation within the controlled conditions of an indoor space.
Presented as one work in nine parts, PRESSURE is a sequence of paintings scaled to encompass and invite the viewer into a field of shifting colour and exuberant gesture.
Drawing on the tradition of action painting that welcomes spontaneity and improvisation, Mr Keating has refined a distinct methodology of intuitive actions and mark-making using varying propulsion and gravity-based techniques.
Looking back to the raw energy of his site-specific outdoor paintings of the early 2000s, he has approached PRESSURE as a testing ground – a new body of work created as a celebration of experimentation, that draws upon 20 years of practice and the memories deeply held in body and mind.
Ryan Richie is a Melbourne-based composer performer and producer. He is the founding member of orchestral jazz electro ensemble The Raah Project and the artist behind live hip hop/jazz ensemble True Live.
His original work draws influence from the traditions of contemporary jazz, minimalism, hip-hop, and dance.
Ash Keating’s exhibition PRESSURE has been ongoing until 17 March 2024 at Bunjil Place.
