Fine Art student Daniel Sherington is currently exhibiting in Undergrowth, an invitational exhibition showcasing some of the most innovative work being produced by undergraduate students in Contemporary Australian Indigenous Art, Photography and Fine Art at the Queensland College of Art (QCA).
We asked Daniel about his experience studying at QCA, and to share some insights into his work featured in the exhibition.
Tell us about your experience studying Fine Art at QCA?
Studying at QCA has been great. I came to Fine Art after studying Architecture and was really hoping for my work to grow conceptually. Through all the in-class activities and tasks, as well as all the help from staff and fellow students and friends, I feel my practice has grown in leaps and bounds at QCA. I feel like I have a lot more confidence in my own practice now, and I’m much more certain in the work I’m making.
I make a lot of use of the equipment and facilities at QCA. The studio culture here is great and having your own dedicated space to work is fantastic. The social aspect that comes with working at the university with your peers also creates a really fun community atmosphere. There’s always someone to have a chat with about your work, or socially. The staff who run the facilities are also really friendly and helpful as well.
Do you have any mentors, or people that have guided you during your studies?
All the teaching staff at QCA are really supportive, in particular, Natalya Hughes has definitely been a key person guiding me through. Natalya is the current course convenor for Expanded Practice, and she’s really helped me, from understanding new techniques and concepts, to just being a friendly face around the College.
What are your future plans?
I hope to continue on with my artistic practice. QCA has definitely helped shape those plans as I’ve gained the skills to create the work that I want to, and the confidence to do it.
Can you explain a little about your work in the Undergrowth exhibition?
My work currently in the Undergrowth exhibition, ‘Artist as… Obsequious’ is part of an ongoing series exploring the implications of the post-colonial, and masculine tropes of artists in Australia. The crushed beer can in the work is utilised as a symbolic cultural landscape and looks to exploit the value and premise of the traditional painted Australian landscape. Statements of humour, self-deprecation, philosophy and stereotype are then crudely etched across this imagery. These statements speak to the nature of the artist and imagery in Australia.
The work is a Cyanotype but starts off as a digital drawing. A photographic process, the digital drawing is printed inverted on a large transparency and exposed to the Australian sun. The work is then developed through water collected in my own rain-water tanks. Through this process of engaging with the literal Australian landscape, the work then continues to adopt this mantle and even becomes it.
Join us at the closing exhibition event for Undergrowth, Wednesday 19 February 5 — 6.30 pm in the QCA Galleries Webb Gallery on our South Bank campus. View the exhibition on display until 22 February. Open Tuesday — Saturday, 10 am — 4 pm.
Find out more about Fine Art at the Queensland College of Art.