You're invited to the exhibition opening of Pip McManus: Saw Points & Rod Moss: Moon Havoc.
Exhibition Opening | Friday, 27 June @ 6pm
Artist's Floor Talk | Saturday, 28 June @ 10.30am
Exhibition | 28 June - 17 August
Pip McManus is a local Mparntwe/Alice Springs artist who has been reflecting on the timeless issues of dispossession and migration.
Saw Points encompass a selection of new artworks alongside matured installation from years of refined reflection with outstanding pieces drawn from the Araluen Arts Centre collection.
“You will find here a wide selection from my art practice, pieces ranging from silk screened ceramic tablets to multimedia assemblages and recent video works. While often exploring serious subjects, both near and far away, it’s the universal elements of human struggles that most interest me. But this dealing with the dark stuff necessitates a flip side. I take most pleasure in playing with the piles of abandoned detritus which find their way to my studio.
The dark edges of our world are leavened by any creations that might provoke a glint of laughter in people’s eyes. For decades I’ve been eyeing off an old cross saw which has been kicking around my yard until it finally sprang into action with a sharp enough idea for repurposing. Nearly all the wood featured in recent pieces, is sourced from driftwood thrown up onto a remote and wild beach in Kangaroo Island. I love the salty surface, so perfectly pickled by months or years tossing about in the Southern Ocean. Cutting into the outer crust you never know what manner of seasoned timber might emerge.” Pip McManus, 2025.
Rod Moss has lived in Alice Springs since 1984, writing, painting, drawing and carving tables with Australiana motifs.
“Australia’s relationship with its First Peoples, following the pattern of European countries worldwide, has been contentious since colonisation. How this relationship was unfolding in Central Australia occupied my attention from the get go. My creative work concerning this relationship has ineluctably attracted attention in town and far beyond.
The drawings, re-describing country close to home, have strong affiliation with the figurative social commentary. It is after all the same country that I’ve walked, hunted and camped in with the families staffing the paintings. The drawings are uniformly grey. While they celebrate with loving detail specific places the tone intends to alert the viewer that our environment is not as pristine and healthy as it appears.
I’m fully enlivened when drawing: physically, intellectually, emotionally intense, though calm. My excitement and satisfaction derives from bringing the look and feel of something into existence that creates the illusion of a parallel world.
Graphite has been a favoured medium from the beginning. My first Melbourne solo show in 1978 was comprised of drawings, close to the eye, of gardens housing surreal objects. Hyperreal or surreal elements persist in these meditations on rocks. But Buffel grass, which provides verdancy to the Centre’s soils and rhythm to many drawings, isn’t surreal in any sense as the text of the accompanying catalogue makes clear.” Rod Moss, 2025.
You may also like the following events from Araluen Arts Centre:
Also check out other
Arts events in Alice Springs,
Exhibitions in Alice Springs,
Fine Arts events in Alice Springs.
