Laura Baranyi / Sunburn 2023

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Laura Baranyi

Sunburn 2023

This work is based off Jacoba van Heemskerck’s painting Composition No.105 taking inspiration from his psychedelic array of colours and shapes. Heemskerck hid a face in his work and I accentuated it. Is it the face of a cheesy troll? I started questioning the troll’s true motives. What is he smiling about? What could possibly be so amusing? What does he want from me? This led me to the conclusion that perhaps everythingisn’t about me. Maybe he’sjust happy to be there. Blehhh!!!

Opal Marks / Beetle-chair 2023

Opal Marks / Beetle‑chair 2023 / View full image

Opal Marks

Beetle‑chair 2023

Beetle‑chair is an artwork based on an artist named Monique, whose artwork had chairs growing from the earth. My spin on that is a chair beetle; the beetle being the earth component and the chair being the chair on the beetle’s back.

Aleena Devassia / Perception 2023

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Aleena Devassia

Perception 2023

The perception of art is constantly evolving, influenced by time, culture and eras. My artwork – titled Perception - explores the idea of art being perceived in non-linear ways through time. Influenced by two different artworks created in the 1900s, I aim to evoke the message of constant evolution in the art industry through periods of time. A range of materials and techniques were utilised such as beading, fabric collaging as a symbol to modern art and the cross through time in visual art.

Nick Armstrong / The Tall Smirking Woman 2023

Nick Armstrong / The Tall Smirking Woman 2023 / View full image

Nick Armstrong

The Tall Smirking Woman 2023

Gazing at my artwork, I want the audience to feel peaceful but unsettled. I made this artwork to question the intentions of a female figure in an art historical image. Who is she? In my opinion, beauty can be intensified with mystery. Her presence is felt and intriguing even. I made this artwork to be unsettling. I intended this so the audience and myself could remember this strange feeling. The extended kimono rags I added because this would intensify the meaning of mystery. My inspiration was traditional kimonos and ornaments.

Isobel West / A Women’s Beauty 2023

Isobel West / A Women’s Beauty 2023 / View full image

Isobel West

A Women’s Beauty 2023

My artwork is inspired by the early 20th century Bijinga genre Japanese artworks. The lady on my calico art piece represents how she feels empty without her beauty. She is an empty shell, a mannequin for the view of other people. If she is not beautiful then what’s the point? She will inhabit another shell. With expensive clothing from the finest tailors, even the people of Japan reject her “feminine beauty”. Opinions and low whispers fed her mouth with a sour taste. Her eyes dissolve to try and escape seeing everyone’s judging stare. She must run and find another shell. If a woman is not ‘pretty’, are they considered below men? Women are toys manipulated by society, a lifeless doll to be played around with. Society has a stereotypical beauty standard that is still normalised in society, no matter what television says.

Miles Gallott / End it all 2023

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Miles Gallott

End it all 2023

End it all tells the story of a man stuck in hospitalisation via his family, taking his life into his own hands and sadly ending his life. I was inspired to create this work from the artist Alberto Sughi’s Dentro La Malattia and created the work using Natalya Hughes’ process.

Olympia Zavros / Always on my mind 2023

Olympia Zavros / Always on my mind 2023 / View full image

Olympia Zavros

Always on my mind 2023

My work is based on a painting by Karl Schmidt Interior 1920. I chose to explore the presence of the man behind the women, writing on a desk. As reference to Frida Kahlo’s Diego on my mind, I painted the woman to be painting the man, with elongated fingers pressed into her temple. I wanted to allude to the fact that he may just be ‘on her mind’. To reiterate this, I wrote the lyrics to ‘Always on my mind’ by the Pet Shop Boys, on the backside of the work.

Siobhan Tevelen / Sharp & Soft Edges 2023

Siobhan Tevelen / Sharp & Soft Edges 2023 / View full image

Siobhan Tevelen

Sharp & Soft Edges 2023

My artwork was inspired by At the night bar 1911 by Emil Nolde and features the two figures from the work. During the process, I encountered many new mediums that I have not used before, and while they were a struggle at the start, there are many I would use again. I used different colours and patterns during the process that helped to create a strong contrast between the two figures. I tried to use a mix of organic and geometric shapes that I identified with the two figures (female: organic; male: geometric) to help communicate their personalities. The lyrics I included are Radiohead’s ‘Jigsaw falling into place’ and help to expand on their stories and connect to the inspiration.

Kyliah Moore / Explosion of graffiti 2023

Kyliah Moore / Explosion of graffiti 2023 / View full image

Kyliah Moore

Explosion of graffiti 2023

My artwork is an expression of an explosion of colours and textures. I tried to incorporate graffiti influences. Seen are the different sizes, use of shapes and lots of colour. Like an explosion. Through this, not the most desired result I wanted, I like the process of creating it.

Meenakshi Riber / Girl with a Passion 2023

Meenakshi Riber / Girl with a Passion 2023 / View full image

Meenakshi Riber

Girl with a Passion 2023

Picasso’s famous painting Girl with a Mandolin was created to convey a sense of peacefulness and meditation. This piece is a reinterpretation of the artwork, highlighting the effect of music on our emotions and how every art form is not just an object, but a passion. The idea of being ‘in the zone’ when creating/performing is visualised by the colours bleeding to warmer tones toward the instrument, and the harsh contrast between the woman and the dull outside world. This piece was created using paint on distressed fabric, femmage, tufted segments and metal/plywood accents.

Chloe J / Forevermore 2023

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Chloe J

Forevermore 2023

Throughout making this artwork, I constantly found myself trying to create something impressive that showed off my skill level. I haven’t ever worked with materials and have never used any collage skills before. We when I first started constructing, I tried to force the materials into place, and it was unsuccessful. It wasn’t until I stopped caring about the final result that I started to have fun with it. Is it my favourite artwork of all time? No. However it holds amazing memories that are worth more than any artwork.

Anastasia Wilson / Temptation 2023

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Anastasia Wilson

Temptation 2023

A physical depiction of infidelity in a pre-feminism world where the woman is shunned for not being ‘enough’ for her partner, and that he is just a victim to temptation, the apple in the Garden of Eden and his mistress the snake. The blur in the facial features alluding to the many different women and men this has happened to over humanity’s many years on earth.

Jordan Wiseman / True Colour 2023

Jordan Wiseman / True Colour 2023 / View full image

Jordan Wiseman

True Colour 2023

Art can be used to express the feelings and emotions we experience. Inspired by Sigrid Hjerten’s Self‑Portrait 1914, this piece shows a woman who is unhappy with the art she has created because it doesn’t reflect how she truly feels. The colours, shapes and objects are in complete contrast with her experience and so, in anger, a slash has been made through the middle which leaks red like a wound.

Zander Kingsford / Surfin’ Bird 2023

Zander Kingsford / Surfin’ Bird 2023 / View full image

Zander Kingsford

Surfin’ Bird 2023

Inspired by Max Ernst’s Triumph of Surrealism 1937, Surfin’ Bird upholds the same strong lines within Paul Klee’s Woman in Peasant Dress 1940 capturing a strong graphic style. This style also alludes to war propaganda posters which is relevant as the subject of my painting. Surfin’ Bird explores the idea of propaganda in the 21stcentury quickly becoming undetectable; it is now safer to view everything as propaganda, you just have to know what for…

Gracie Gersbach / Doors in the Rain 2023

Gracie Gersbach / Doors in the Rain 2023 / View full image

Gracie Gersbach

Doors in the Rain 2023

Two bright doors unveil a new world brought together by colour. My painting symbolises how new, innovative and bright ideas work together to create harmony, often shielded by black and white views in our society.

Emily Gleeson / No Limits 2023

Emily Gleeson / No Limits 2023 / View full image

Emily Gleeson

No Limits 2023

This piece I am still coming to terms with because it is not my natural style and incorporates many different textures I don’t usually play with. I call it No Limits because I believe this would be a representation of what my future house would look like. If I had no limits, it was inspired by two historic pieces including Open Doors by Grace Cossington-Smith and Yellow Jug by Alexej von Jawlensky. These artworks inspired the main components of my piece, the door and the table.

Caitlyn Penny / The gycklare 2023

Caitlyn Penny / The gycklare 2023 / View full image

Caitlyn Penny

The gycklare 2023

The inspiration for my artwork was from Sigris Hjerten’s Self‑portrait 1914. My artwork focused on the composition of Sigrid Hjerten while adding my own fun twist to the design around it. With bold colour and fun additions like tassels and my motifs, I tried to create a world where the fun Jester is adding its stamp on the world through bold colours and fun little trinkets.

Samara Ireland / Nine Ladies 2023

Samara Ireland / Nine Ladies 2023 / View full image

Samara Ireland

Nine Ladies 2023

Originally based of Paul Gauguin’s Siesta 1892-94, this artwork deconstructs the visual information of the original work and, through a surrealist lens, reconstructs it into a new work. It has no intended meaning; rather, it focuses on presenting a surreal and visually interesting scene through a composition inspired by the Fibonacci sequence.

Grace Summerbell / No rain, no life 2023

Grace Summerbell / No rain, no life 2023 / View full image

Grace Summerbell

No rain, no life 2023

This artwork is inspired by Wassily Kandinsky’s artwork Improvisations and Jacoba Van Heemskerck’s paintings. By taking their elements and using it in my own way, I incorporated how the feeling of rain can be sad, it also creates life and can make you feel free, which is magical. Mistakes are what make you bloom.

Acknowledgments

All works are copyright and courtesy of the artists and were created as part of the ‘Creative Generation:

In Residence’ program held at QAGOMA from 28 to 30 November 2023.

The ‘Creative Generation: In Residence‘ program is a partnership between the Queensland Department of Education and the Queensland Art Gallery | Gallery of Modern Art (QAGOMA).

QAGOMA would like to thank the Queensland College of Art, Griffith University, for their support of this program.

The Gallery is especially grateful to Natalya Hughes for sharing her time, knowledge, and passion with the students.

Special thanks go to the amazing teachers who helped supervise the program:

David Marsden
Cairns State High School

Monique Nicholson
Maroochydore State High School

Athena Costopoulos
Southern Cross Catholic College

Gail Johnston
Noosa District State High School