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ARI ATHANS
BIOGRAPHY & CV
Symbols of language provide both form and content in the work of Ari Athans. Drawing from childhood experiences, these paintings re-enact the artist’s early fascination with the iconic shapes of the Greek alphabet, and their ability to contain and relate meaning.
Memory, however, has merged the simple calligraphic forms with brightly coloured illustrations from school-readers, and produced visual motifs which seem to hover above the picture plane. Having gathered these attic rudiments from the realm of pedagogy, Athans reappraises their meanings in a new milieu. In her paintings, the rusting layers of the sheet-steel picture-planes seem to shift beneath the integrity of the stencilled compositions applied to their surfaces.
If traditional certainties seem threatened by this state of flux, the dynamic interaction that exists between image and ground in these works signals the potential that accompanies each new context. Through her work Athans shares with us her culture, not only remembered and reanimated, but also enriched by a new complexity of meaning, in its new setting.
Education
1992
Associate Diploma of Arts (Jewellery Object Design)— Sydney Institute of Tafe
1989
Diploma in Gemmology— Gemmological Association of Australia
1988
Bachelor Applied Science (Geology)— University Technology, Sydney
Current
Opened Ari Jewellery Gallery/Workshop, Brisbane
Solo Exhibitions
2002
Stonewear, Jan Murphy Gallery, Brisbane
2001
Cha Cha Charms, CQ Store, Craft Queensland, Brisbane
2000
Bodyguards, Craft Queensland, Brisbane
Selected Joint/Group Exhibitions
2009
Vexta, Kill Pixie & Ari Athans, Edwina Corlette Gallery, Brisbane
Mod Squad, Touring Regional Galleries Queensland
2008
Smart State Designer Finalist, Design Institute of Australia, Brisbane
2007
Bowerbird, A Day on Earth, Brisbane & Melbourne: A collaboration with David Bromley
Freestyle, Melbourne Museum, QUT Museum, Object Gallery and Milan Museum
Blurred Boundaries, Kick Arts, Cairns
Pecha Kucha , Powerhouse, Brisbane
2006
South Project, Santiago Museum, Chile
2005
Make the Common Precious, Craft Victoria— Melbourne
Arc, Art Design Craft Biennial, Brisbane City Gallery
2004
Self, Touring Seven UK galleries
2002
Less is More/Less is a Bore, Brisbane City Gallery
2001
Schmuck 2001, International Handwerksmesse— Munich
Contemporary Wearables, Toowoomba Regional Gallery
Travelling Talent, Australians in Germany touring Craft Vic, Craft Qld, Craft ACT
1998
Past Tense/Future Perfect, Object Gallery
1997
X-Ray, Craft Queensland Gallery
Project: Object, Performance Space, Sydney
Grants
2002
Arts Queensland
2000
Arts Queensland
Collections
Toowoomba Regional Gallery
Selected Bibliography
Freestyle, Object and Melbourne Museum, edited by Brian Parkes
Craft Unbound, Kevin Murray, Craftman House
Vogue, ‘Finders Keepers’ by Clare press, 11/07, p.118
Object, ’Studio’ by Robyn Daw Issue 52/2007, p.60
Artichoke, ‘Ari Jewellery’ by Cameron Bruhn Issue 13,p.63
Arbitare, ‘All the worlds products’ Issue 402 1/2001 p.127
Harpers Bazaar, ‘Personal Space’ by Megam Morton, 4/03, p.103
Object, ‘Bodyguards” by Tim Morell 4/00, p.92
Object, ‘Diagnostic Imaging” by Rhana davenport, 1/98, p.26