On Tuesday, October 28, 2025, at 7:00 pm, Quartz Studio is pleased to present Verso Pictures, the first solo exhibition in Italy by Australian artist Stuart Ringholt (Perth, Australia, 1971).
Verso Pictures (2025) is a series of ink paintings on paper created using frottage. Frottage is a drawing technique used for representing texture, whereby paper is pressed against a surface, and charcoal or pencil is rubbed across the paper, pictorializing the underlying texture.
Ringholt has used frottage to create impressions of a previous body of his work, first exhibited at Propane gallery in Melbourne in early 2025. This initial series utilized a poster design the artist first created in 2014 which made associations between the British Royal Family and advertising of guns. The various graphics of the poster such as text, photographs, flag design and gun logos, were repeatedly altered and re-mixed in an abstract fashion, often with the intent of complicating the original registers and representations. It was the first instance that the artist has used his own artwork as raw collage material as opposed to print media from books and magazines.
Ringholt describes the process of developing Verso Pictures from the original Propane work:
“I primarily used vertical strokes of black oil stick from top to bottom, with the intent of imparting a gray tone to the work. [...] I think of the works as raw, edited photographs, large newspaper fronts, or frottages of imaginary surfaces, all made with simple analog processes. The new Verso Pictures exhibited at Quartz Studio use horizontal strokes, as opposed to vertical ones. They are reminiscent of scientific photography or X-rays but are, quintessentially, representations of an exhibition.”
Verso Pictures is a new and surprising direction for the artist as it is less conceptual and didactic, in favor of an experimental formalism. Ringholt says:
“Occasionally, artists have spoken of the need to withdraw themselves from the artistic process and simply be a conduit for much larger forces. Verso Pictures adheres to this tradition.”
Artist talk: Stuart Ringholt with Prof. Michele Cerruti Brut: Wednesday 29 October 17:00-18:30, Accademia UNIDEE – Fondazione Pistoletto, Biella
Stuart Ringholt (Perth, Australia, 1971) lives and works in Melbourne. Ringholt’s artistic practice takes many forms including performance, video, drawing, collage, painting, sculpture, writing and collaborative workshops. Ringholt’s work investigates a diverse range of ideas and approaches. For instance, his monumental clock sculptures are best described as thought machines whereby speculative physics is used to consider present and deep time. His participatory works such as his well-celebrated Anger Workshops (2008) and popular naturist tours (2011) investigate the concept of ‘education through feeling’. The public sculpture Signpost (2007) displaying a set of human emotions was recently installed at a Brooklyn middle school to encourage emotional literacy in young people. The small collage works with their minor but impactful alterations to found images span two decades of practice.
Ringholt has shown work in major national and international forums including Aichi Triennale (2019), Performa 15, (2015), dOCUMENTA 13 (2012), Adelaide Biennial (2010), Singapore Biennale (2011), TarraWarra Biennial (2008) and Sydney Biennale (2008). His work has been profiled in major art publications including Artforum, Frieze, Art & Australia, Vault and Art Asia Pacific, and in newspapers The New York Times, The Guardian and La Republica. Ringholt has authored two books: Hashish Psychosis: What it’s Like to be Mentally Ill and Recover (2006) and his doctoral thesis A Problem Smile: Workshops, Tours and Discos (2018).
Quartz Studio would like to thank the artist. The exhibition will be open from October 28, 2025, to January 10, 2026, by appointment.
Also check out other Arts events in Torino, Fine Arts events in Torino, Workshops in Torino.
