ANTON PULVIRENTI    

‘GOOMILAND’    

05.06. – 05.07.2014

‘Cuniculus (Centaur)’, 2013, charcoal on paper, 200cm x 150cm, $3,900

‘Conifer bedroom 2 (Gina)’ 2013, charcoal on paper, 150cm x 190cm, charcoal, $3,800

DOMINIK MERSCH GALLERY is pleased to present Sydney based artist ANTON PULVIRENTI’s exhibition ‘Goomiland’. Pulvirenti’s work is about ways that official history marginalizes alternative historical narrative. His dystopian drawings create alternative historical anecdotes with pertinent themes of migration and internment.   The anamorphic figures that occupy the parallel world ‘Goomiland’ rewrite the artist’s family history in terms of the repressed wartime past of his grandfather. Verging on the provocative, the ink cartoon strips, charcoal portraiture and illusionist trick-art drawings weave narratives that provide a fresh perspective on social and political practices during the war and their subsequent impact on present generations.   A Doctor of Philosophy, Sydney University, Anton Pulvirenti is an artist whose activist tendencies are expressed through skilful draftsmanship. He speaks allegorically through the oldest form of human expression and the foundation of artistic practice - drawing.

 

“My work is about the ways official history marginalizes alternative historical narratives. It creates alternative historical narratives with themes of Italian migration and the internment of Italian naturalized British subjects during World War Two. The anamorphic figures rewrite family history in terms of the repressed wartime history of my grandfather, Angelo Pulvirenti, interned in 1942-44 in South Australia. The ultimate aim of these works is to come to terms with their familial origins.   These charcoal and pencil drawings capture the stillness and alienation of the internment experience whilst alluding to the psychological torment of prison surveillance. My daughter’s body in many of the works is an image of hybridity and otherness. The rabbit symbolizes the innocence of childhood against the rabbit as introduced pest that breeds and multiplies like a plague. The hare represents the fear of the immigrant Other, whom, if not controlled, will overrun the land. The immigrant is condemned to remain on the margins of contemporary life, dislocated from any sense of being and belonging. The work depicts the erasure of Australia’s treatment of Italians during the war and its subsequent impact on present generations.”

Artist Statement

Anton Pulvirenti

Terms of sale of all works shown: 10% deposit on reservation. Balance on collection. Prices as of May 2014. All prices listed may change without notice. All prices include GST.

Cuniculus 1’, (detail) 2013, charcoal on paper, 154cm x 109cm, $3,500 (opposite)

‘Starry night 6’, 2014, charcoal on paper, 50cm x 35cm, $950

‘Starry night 9’, 2014, charcoal on paper, 50cm x 35cm, $950

‘Starry night 8 (dark starry bunny)’, 2014, charcoal on paper, 50cm x 35cm, $950

‘Starry night 2’ 2014, charcoal on paper, 42cm x 30cm, $800

Terms of sale of all works shown: 10% deposit on reservation. Balance on collection. Prices as of June 2014. All prices listed may change without notice. All prices include GST.

‘Cuniculus 2’, 2013, charcoal on paper, 154cm x 112cm, $3,500

‘Starry  night  7’,  2014,  charcoal  on  paper,  39cm  x  39cm,  $950  

‘Conifer bedroom 1’, 2014, charcoal on paper, 190cm x 130cm, $3,600 (opposite)

Terms of sale of all works shown: 10% deposit on reservation. Balance on collection. Prices as of June 2014. All prices listed may change without notice. All prices include GST.

Terms of sale of all works shown: 10% deposit on reservation. Balance on collection. Prices as of June 2014. All prices listed may change without notice. All prices include GST.

Terms of sale of all works shown: 10% deposit on reservation. Balance on collection. Prices as of June 2014. All prices listed may change without notice. All prices include GST.

‘Starry night 5’, 2014, charcoal on paper, 30cm x 42cm, $800

Terms of sale of all works shown: 10% deposit on reservation. Balance on collection. Prices as of June 2014. All prices listed may change without notice. All prices include GST.

‘Vulpinius 1’, 2013, charcoal on paper, 112cm x 160cm, $3,500

Terms of sale of all works shown: 10% deposit on reservation. Balance on collection. Prices as of June 2014. All prices listed may change without notice. All prices include GST.

Terms of sale of all works shown: 10% deposit on reservation. Balance on collection. Prices as of June 2014. All prices listed may change without notice. All prices include GST.

‘Starry night 1’, 2014, charcoal on paper, 42cm x 30cm, $800 ‘Starry night 2’ 2014, charcoal on paper, 42cm x 30cm, $800

‘Starry night 3’, 2014, charcoal on paper, 30cm x 42cm, $800 ‘Starry night 4’ 2014, charcoal on paper, 42cm x 30cm, $800

‘Cuniculus 3’, 2014, charcoal on paper, 87cm x 46cm, $1,600 (opposite)

‘Vulpinius 2’, 2014, charcoal on paper, 110cm x 66cm, $2,400

“Mussolini declares war on Britain. Many Italians in Australia are horrified”

“It shall not be long before we are all interned…..”

Terms of sale of all works shown: 10% deposit on reservation. Balance on collection. Prices as of June 2014. All prices listed may change without notice. All prices include GST.

‘Mussolini’, 2014 ‘Salvatore’s letter’, 2014 ‘Antonio goes back to Sicily’, 2014

Cartoon narrative drawings, ink on paper, 60 x 42, $1,200 each

Hop in, you’re welcome’, 2014 ‘Mugshots’, 2014 ‘The hairdressers’, 2014

‘The travails of Antonio’, 2014,    

Terms of sale of all works shown: 10% deposit on reservation. Balance on collection. Prices as of May 2014. All prices listed may change without notice. All prices include GST.

“Gina’s past doesn’t shield her from political reality of the present”    

“…..When would he see them again?”

Terms of sale of all works shown: 10% deposit on reservation. Balance on collection. Prices as of June 2014. All prices listed may change without notice. All prices include GST.

Comic book narrative drawings, ink on paper, 60 x 42, $1,200 each

‘Antonio goes back to Sicily’, 2014 ‘Antonio farms the land’, 2014 ‘Poland’, 2014

‘Amity on harbour small’, 2014 ‘Chase out the British’, 2014 ‘Gina thinking about Sicily’, 2014

Terms of sale of all works shown: 10% deposit on reservation. Balance on collection. Prices as of May 2014. All prices listed may change without notice. All prices include GST.

Terms of sale of all works shown: 10% deposit on reservation. Balance on collection. Prices as of June 2014. All prices listed may change without notice. All prices include GST.

‘Cuniculus 5’, 2013, charcoal on paper, 150cm x 50cm, $2,800

‘Cuniculus  4’  2013,  chalk  on  paper,  110cm  x  110cm,  $2,900  

Terms of sale of all works shown: 10% deposit on reservation. Balance on collection. Prices as of June 2014. All prices listed may change without notice. All prices include GST.

Terms of sale of all works shown: 10% deposit on reservation. Balance on collection. Prices as of June 2014. All prices listed may change without notice. All prices include GST.

Terms of sale of all works shown: 10% deposit on reservation. Balance on collection. Prices as of June 2014. All prices listed may change without notice. All prices include GST.

‘Goomiland’ printed books , soft cover, ed of 40, $80 each

‘Goomiland’ printed books, hard cover, ed of 40, $600

‘Goomiland’ comic books, $20 each

Wartime Internment: Family, Memory and History Anton Pulvirenti A thesis submitted in fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy Painting Department University of Sydney 2013  Abstract  This   thesis   invesEgates   the   warEme   internment   of   my   paternal   grandfather   Angelo   PulvirenE,   interned   in   Australia   during   the  Second  World  War.  It  invesEgates  his  internment  in  three  ways.  Firstly,  Angelo’s  internment  is  explored  in  the  context  of  the  ‘state  of  excepEon’   invoked  at   the  Eme  by  the  authoriEes.  The  state  of  excepEon,  a   legal   term  describing  a  sovereign’s  ability   to  override  public   law   in   the   interests   of   naEonal   security   and/or   public   safety,   is   the  means   by  which  his   internment   is   represented   in   the  studio   works.   Secondly,   the   thesis   incorporates   nineteenth   century   pictorial   Symbolism   to  manifest   the   excepEon   in   the   studio  works.   And   lastly,   the   thesis   applies   the   excepEon   to   the   amnesia   of   the   Australian   War   Memorial   regarding   the   warEme  internments,   which   has   become   the   official   version   of   warEme   internment.   The   studio   works   construct   a   new   narraEve   of  internment   from  the  official  version   in  terms  of   familial  content  and  the  silence  regarding  Angelo’s   internment.  The  studio  works  occupy  the  space  between  the  official  version  of   internment  and  Angelo’s   life  narraEve  during  the  war.  Thus,  both  the  thesis  and  studio  work  challenge  the  official  version  of  internment.  The  work  of  Rea  Tajiri,  Katsushige  Nakahashi,  Max  Klinger,  Kandinsky  and  Gerhard  Richter  are  important  on  the  levels  of  formal  manipulaEon,  myth,  symbology  and  memory.  On  the  theoreEcal  level,  Giorgio  Agamben,  Carl  SchmiY,  Michel  Foucault  and  Jacques  Rancière  are  the  main  points  of  contact.  

ANTON PULVIRENTI Born 1973 Brisbane Education 2014 Doctor of Philosophy, Sydney University 2001 BVA (Hons) Painting, Australian National University 1995 Julian Ashton Art School 1991-7 Private life drawing classes with David Paulson Solo Exhibitions 2014 Goomiland, DOMINIK MERSCH GALLERY  2012 Peregrine, Salerno Gallery, Sydney 2011 Lagomorpha, Salerno Gallery 2008 Paintings, Sydney Antique Centre 2007 Night thoughts, Gallery 482, Brisbane 2007 Loveday, Mori Gallery, Sydney 2006  Less Dangerous than democracy, Mori Gallery, Sydney 2003  Ajumma, Sol Gallery, Daegu, Korea 2002  Close to our Hearts, Alliance Francaise, Canberra Group Exhibitions.   2009 Minding Animals, The lockup, Newcastle 2008 Callan Park, Mori Gallery, Sydney 2006 Exhibition of protest, Kurnell Peninsula, Sydney 2006 Fundraiser for freedom, Mori Gallery, Sydney 2006 Picture this, ANU Alumni, CSA Gallery, Canberra 2000-5 Artists on Norton Art Prize, Parliament House, Sydney 2004 1st Contemporary Art Exhibition, Trapani, Italia 2002 Snap, CSA Gallery, Canberra 2001 Hatched, PICA, Perth 2001 Lift Off, Graduating Show , CSA Gallery, Canberra 1998 Redlands Art Prize, Brisbane 1997 Churchie Art Show, Brisbane 1992 Rebels without a course, Fireworks Gallery, Brisbane

Prizes  and  scholarships      2008  Scholarship  to  University  of  Sydney    2007  Chalk  the  Walk  Champion  Pavement  ArEst  Chalk  Award  2005  ArEsts  on  Norton  Art  Prize  2000  Canberra  School  of  Art  drawing  prize  1995  Lexus  art  prize  1994  Scholarship  at  Julian  Ashton  Art  school    Residencies    2004  Residency  in  Trapani,  Sicily,  studying  Sicilian  PainEng  with  Felice  Scire      Selected  Ar5cles      2002  ExhibiEon  Review,  Canberra  Emes,  July  24,  2002  2002  David  Sequeira  ExhibiEon  catalogue  ‘close  to  our  hearts’