Guest Judge for the Depot Artspace Members Show: Evan Woodruffe

We are excited to announce our guest judge for the Depot Artspace 12 X 12 Members Show! Artist Evan Woodruffe will select the winning piece just before the opening which starts this Saturday the 9th of May at 2pm.

Evan Woodruffe was born 1965 in Auckland, where he lives and works. This year he presented the solo exhibition Hypnic Jerks at Paul Nache, and Dodge Project for the Dunedin Public Art Gallery. He’s now working on another solo show for Orexart in October.

Woodruffe’s practice is deeply concerned with the materials and processes involved with painting. There is a consistent acknowledgement and inclusion of the physical space the works are made in; and an ongoing attention to the layered surface effects, the transparency and camouflage of the materials and space, and the flexibility of the process. As the layers of gestural markings accumulate in his works, care is taken not to describe too much form, yet even so, this formless image becomes highly suggestive.

These assertively decorative paintings act like a series of stickers, reflections, textiles or even tattoos upon the ‘surface’. His work can be considered map-like, showing our own negotiation of physical and cultural spaces, looping between our internal and external realms. There is also a level of disorientation created; where the clarity of colour and line is held in tension with a confused blur of layers, with the trail of his brush marking stages, places and possible events.

Woodruffe has a MFA (First Class Honours) from Elam, and received the 2011 Molly Morpeth Canaday Major Award and the 2003 Becroft Foundation Premier Award. His work is held in public and private collections, such as the Wallace Art Trust.

Read more about Evan Woodruffe and his work at www.evanwoodruffe.com.