Melbourne Art Fair, 2012

At Melbourne Art Fair 2012 Stills Gallery will present a selection of new and classic works from Narelle Autio, Roger Ballen, Pat Brassington, Petrina Hicks, Trent Parke, Michael Riley and Warwick Thornton. You can find us at stand D06 on the ground floor.

Works exhibited will include Narelle Autio’s latest series Water Hole. These new works explore the dark inland waters she encountered travelling through remote outback regions, waters that seem more ancient and full of complexity, despite their stillness.

We will be presenting a selection of iconic portraits by Roger Ballen who is well known for his striking photographs of people on the fringes of South African society explored in publications such as Platteland, Images from Rural South Africa and Outland.

The Pressings, Pat Brassington’s recent series, features her wry sense of humour, asserted through subtle stagings that play out across the double page-style diptychs. Don’t miss her upcoming survey exhibition at ACCA in Melbourne, open from 11 August.

For Petrina Hicks photography’s capability to both create and corrupt the process of seduction and consumption, is of endless interest. In The Chrysalis, Hicks takes us beyond seduction as a model lavishly licks a bloom, her perfectly dripping saliva captured in glorious detail and high resolution.

Many are awaiting the upcoming release of Trent Parke’s Minutes to Midnight by Steidl. Stills will present works from this significant series. Minutes to Midnight merges traditional documentary techniques and imagination to create a dark visual narrative portraying Australia with a mix of nostalgia, romanticism and brooding realism.

Michael Riley’s voice was understated and he favoured the poetic as a form of expression. They Call Me Niigarr was made in 1995. It was Riley’s most overtly political work.

Finally, we will be exhibiting works from Warwick Thornton’s Stranded series, which was commissioned by the 2011 BigPond Adelaide Film Festival through its investment fund. He has since been included in the prestigious Documenta (13) with the work Mother Courage.