Mikala Dwyer

Born:
1959
Residence:
Sydney, Australia
Nationality:
Australian
Trust:
APT London
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PRESS & PUBLICATIONS

  • Many leading Australian artists have benefited from a Samstag scholarship. But who were the Samstags and what motivated them to create this legacy?

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  • As we slough off the year 2016, all that remains is hope for the new year ahead. Luckily for art lovers, there are myriad art events to look forward to in the coming months, from new museums opening around the world, to blockbuster solo exhibitions at major museums, to must-see biennials. Here are 17 of them to mark on your calendar.

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  • The National Association for the Visual Arts (NAVA) and Copyright Agency congratulate artists Mikala Dwyer (NSW), and Michelle Nikou (SA) announced as recipients of the inaugural $20,000 NAVA Visual Arts Fellowship.

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  • The Other Art Fair, the United Kingdom's largest artist-led fair, has announced the artist list and revealed the venue for its first Sydney fair.

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  • Sydney’s 2015 art fair lineup has gone from one to three in the space of two months with the UK’s largest artist-led fair, The Other Art Fair, set to launch in Sydney this September, joining Sydney Contemporary and the recently announced Sydney edition of the SPRING 1883 art fair which held its inaugural edition in Melbourne in 2014.

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  • Artist Mikala Dwyer’s sculptural work The weight of shape, 2014, has been unveiled today as the greatly anticipated 2014 Artist Commission,

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  • Exhibition marred by controversy that led to dumping of major sponsor Transfield and resignation of board’s chairman

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  • In the past few years, work by the Sydney-based artist Mikala Dwyer has shifted away from its feminist, post-punk inclinations and toward a focus

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  • Mikala Dwyer's performances and exhibition Goldene Bend'er have attracted much publicity. Although a long line of artists has invoked defecation - such as Piero Manzoni's Merda d'artista (artist's shit) from more than 50 years ago - Dwyer's use of excrement in a gallery is seen by some as tasteless provocation.

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  • Mikala Dwyer is exhibiting in Ireland for the first time. Her work is on show at a multidisciplinary art space called Project Art Space in Dublin.

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  • Geometric shapes and bold colour evoke the pioneering days of a bush-clad isthmus and its development into sprawling conurbation.

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BIOGRAPHY

Mikala Dwyer was born in 1959 is Sydney, Australia, where she continues to live and work. Primarily using sculpture and installation, Dwyer’s practice explores the seductive charge of objects, which acquire a social currency within her assemblages on account of their domestic and architectural references. Hinting at uncertainty and formlessness, Dwyer’s work challenges good design and academic formalism. Her installations are usually created on site out of everyday materials and objects such as cardboard, organza, band-aids, dinner plates, cigarette butts and pieces of furniture. They can be described as temporary structures or “holding patterns” that transform an accumulation of stuff into a legible constellation characterized by its singular phenomenological impact and emotional resonance. Dwyer often invest her installations with a further layer of pathos by contextualizing them using music or videos that elicit both heartfelt recognition and nostalgic reminiscences.

Recent solo exhibitions include “Outfield” at Roslyn Oxley9 Gallery, Sydney (2009), “Swamp Geometry” at Anna Schwartz Gallery, Melbourne (2008), “Mono Clinic” at Hamish McKay Gallery, Melbourne (2008), “Costumes and Empty Sculptures” at IMA, Brisbane (2008), “Moon Garden Aratoi Museum” at Masterton, New Zealand (2008), “The Addition and Substractions” and "the Hanging Garden” at Kunstraum Potsdam, Potsdam (2007). Her work has also been shown as part of the West Brunswick Sculpture Triennial, Melbourne, Victoria (2009), “Axis Bold as Love, Video Salon” at CAPC, Bordeaux (2008), Den Haag Sculptuur 2007 De Overkant / Down Under, The Netherlands (2007), “High Tide” at Zacheta Gallery of Art, Warsaw (2006) and “21st Century Modern”, Adelaide Biennale (2005).

Mikala Dwyer is represented by Anna Schwartz Gallery, Melbourne, Roslyn Oxley9 Gallery, Sydney, Hamish Morrison Galerie, Berlin and Hamish McKay Gallery, Wellington.


For additional information about this artist, visit Mutual Art