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Artist Statement:
"BREATHING WITH MY EYES - New
Work from Ranna’s American
Years" 21 June - 10 July,
2002.
Gallery 482, Brisbane, Q 4006,
Australia. Ph: (61) (7)
3254-0933.
After my first visit to Italy
I told a friend that it was
like breathing for the first
time, Breathing with my Eyes.
I recently realized that this
is what I do all the time.
Often, in so many
circumstances - new countries,
new experiences, new lives -
the breath is held and my eyes
breathe for me. After the
initial excitement of new
experiences during my first
year in the U.S., everything
seemed veiled: my former life
in Australia, my new life in
the U.S., myself, humanity,
reality, truth. I knew only a
few very simple things:
"reality" is gossamer that if
only we can push it gently
aside we find that the
gossamer skin is an unreality;
there is something shared
between the gossamer veil of
skin and mind: one is the
material projection of the
other, the shadow mind, and
tears in the fabric of one
allow us to see through the
barrier of the other.
Breathing with my eyes, I went
into the studio and began
making totally new...
Further Information
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Artist Exhibitions:
SELECTED EXHIBITIONS
UPCOMING
2004
Embassy of Australia,
Washington D.C., USA.
2003
Gallery 482, Brisbane,
Australia.
Lord Fairfax College Gallery,
Virginia, USA.
COMPLETED
2002
"Breathing with my Eyes".
Gallery 482, Brisbane,
Australia.
Washington Project for the
Arts/Corcoran - Open Studio
Project, Virginia, USA.
SPACE Design, birthday show -
Sydney / Brisbane, Australia.
...
Further Information
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Artist Galleries:
ONLINE: http://www.ranna.com
http://www.shimmerart.com
AUSTRALIA:
(1) Gallery 482, 482 Brunswick
St, Fortitude Valley, Q4001,
Australia. Ph: (61) (7)
3254-0933;
http://www.gallery482.com.au;
Email: joefar@thehub.com.au
(2) Art On Site (associate of
Gallery 482); Virginia
Alberighi, Email:
valberighi@optusnet.com.au
...
Further Information
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Collections:
Held in private collections in
USA, Australia, and New
Zealand.
...
Further Information
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Commissions:
Coming Soon!
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Reviews for Ranna Rosanna-L. Lachlan:
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FOUR REVIEWS ARE REPRINTED HERE FOR YOUR CONVENIENCE.
FOR FULL LIST OF REVIEWS, SEE BELOW REVIEW 4.
REVIEW 1 1995
This artist "...has threaded together an extraordinarily diverse range of sources through which original study of cross-disciplinary and cross-cultural concerns is constructed. The references are wonderfully rich, and terrain across quite disparate specialisations is traversed with great attention to accuracy and detail. [The artist’s] research and thought processes within the studio are fascinating." (Leon Paroissien, 1995. Former Director, Museum of Contemporary Art, Sydney, Australia; Current Editor in Chief, Art & Culture, Sydney, Australia. Excerpt from Mr Paroissien’s report on Lachlan’s doctorate.)
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REVIEW 2
1986 REVIEW OF FIGURATIVE WORK
" 'TOTAL ART' AT TOWNSVILLE"
Townsville's new gallery director Ross Searle has shown the flag with his first home-curated show of works by young artist Ranna Hale [artist's former last name]. Though the public may have a bit to chew on with this uncompromising kind of art, the choice was a lucky one: it combines a consistent and demanding concept with excellent graphic draftsmanship.
The show was officially opened by Senator Margaret Reynolds, who, as former chairman of the Townsville City Council's Community and Cultural Development Committee, expressed her personal relationship to the venue, as well as to the artist. This goes back to the time when artist Ranna Hale [artist's former last name] worked as the town's community arts officer, in between her studies at the Queensland College of Art [1972-73] and Townsville College of TAFE [1978-80].
The exhibition consists of 12 large drawings in charcoal, ink, pastels and paint on paper, and a corresponding set of 12 paintings in polytex, acrylic and metallic paint on heavy jute, as well as a smaller quartet of studies to the paintings. Common theme of all works is the female body, intersected into twelve parts, so to speak from toe to tip.
Analogue to the composition principle in atonal music, these intersections form the equivalent of a visual scale, thus providing the building material for future work.
The paintings explore the body feeling of the different body parts in the experience of the artist. A cosmological dimension is suggested by relating the body feelings to the moods of the four seasons of the year (each subdivided into three), the fours elements, and the 12 signs of the zodiac.
The drawings are based on images taken from an anatomical atlas, and on life studies, but are also abstracted and monumentalised to achieve an epic quality. Though the images also determine the forms in the paintings, the colours, textures, and (controlled) gestural movement show expressive heaviness, as if seeking a counterpart to the lofty concept.
... The visual display is accompanied by a tape of (12) natural sounds, which are set in atonal arrangements. The integration of music and vision both in the presentation and the underlying concept follow the European tradition of Total Art, which appeared in many guises from Wagner to Beuys, currently experiencing a (frightening?) revival in young urban art practice, stimulated by new French philosophy.
It is of interest in this context that Anton Schoenberg, the inventor of Dodekaphonie, and Wassily Kandinsky corresponded over a Total Art colour system. Schoenberg himself was a hauntingly expressive painter.
The exhibit will be on display until June 14.
Anna Bock, in Courier Mail, Saturday May 31, 1986, Brisbane, Australia. [ABRIDGED]
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REVIEW 3
1998 REVIEW OF SHIMMER WORK
"MYRIAD PLAYS ON LIFE"
"Walking into Light" by Ranna-Lesley Lachlan is a collection of paintings, installation and sound works from the past 14 years charting journeys from transformations drawing upon a wide scope of cultural, technical, philosophical and sensory influences of the artist's experiences in Eastern and Western life.
In this selection of works, and over time, the artist has examined ideas of death-as-transformation, features of the female experience, the balancing of yin and yang energies to the most recent lighter and ethereal Shimmer Works.
Travel and study in India and Asia have acted as a catalyst in the artist's practice and treatment of the ongoing theme and experience of change. A holistic approach is taken to the creation and presentation of works which allow the audience to experience rather than simply see with the eye.
This reflects the artist's creative process between gesture, voice, colour, sound, intensity and light. From the earlier sculptural paintings on jute of the 1985 Myth, Woman, Song series, the effect of pattern and directional marks create a rhythmic cycle which not only echo the fabric but also act as a sign of what was to evolve.
Later scroll works on paper and crystal organza feature gestural layering of brush marks influenced by Japanese ink painting with a combination of personal iconography and universal symbology.
The calligraphic styles and use of reflective and refractive media reveal energy paths from the artist's hand to depict movement into, through, and beyond states of being. These journeys pay homage to the fact that discovery of inner and outer selves and the universal experience is never ending, all change. This selection of works marks [one of] Ranna-Lesley Lachlan's final Townsville exhibitions before moving to the Unites Sates to continue her work.
Walking into Light features at the Perc Tucker Gallery until February 15.
Janet Gallagher, in Townsville Bulletin, Friday 23 January, 1998, Townsville, Australia, p.22.
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REVIEW 4
1998 REVIEW OF EI-SHODO WORK
"BRIDGE BETWEEN CULTURES"
Eastern art is regularly explored by Western artists, quite often clumsily and half-heartedly. Ranna-Lesley Lachlan's current exhibition at Pinnacles Gallery clearly demonstrates that she is an artist extremely skilled in the use of other philosophies and artforms in her own art practice. Essence of Memory: Unspoken Territory and the Kami Way is an exhibition of recent work by Lachlan specifically dealing with Indian and Japanese art and philosophies.
The "Black" works use a style of calligraphy developed by Lachlan whilst living in Japan called Ei-shodou (literally meaning English and masterful calligraphy). The works transcribe Indian verses on silk [crystal] organza and at first seem totally unintelligible, like ancient Japanese calligraphy or pure abstract painting.
On peering closer one can see familiar letters and words emerging, forcing the viewer to contemplate. This is a show where you should take the time to sit down and think. It is not a show that jumps out with its meaning or basic visual representation.
This contemplation is aided by the artist's use of the kucheng. A Chinese musical instrument that is used as a bridge to bring together the Indian and Japanese elements of the show. Specifically this relates to Buddhism being taken from India to China, then from China to Japan along with other elements of Chinese culture.
The Japanese presence is shown in the "White" works that have been produced by arranging crumpled up pages of a Townsville telephone directory. As lachlan is soon to leave these shores for the United States, they hold particular meaning in dealing with her memories of Townsville. By disposing of an effective means of communication she seems to be ridding herself of connections to Townsville.
The "White" works are visually pensive and calming, however, the calligraphic messages performed in the artist's Ei-shodou calligraphy method are harsh statements about negative human traits such as malice and slander. In the piece titled Henken (Prejudice) the phrase states:
"Take the log out of your own eye ... you know the rest:
the 'other' is us."
Whilst tellingly the final work in the show, sadly Lachlan's last exhibition in Townsville, is the piece entitled Put it to Bed and Leave (I) (Culmination)...
Brett Adlington, in Townsville Bulletin, Friday February 6, 1998, Townsville, Australia, p. 24.
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SELECTED LIST OF REVIEWS/ BIBLIOGRAPHIES
ABOUT THE ARTIST
Kennelly, E. April 2000, Island, Continent, catalogue essay, Alex Galleries, Washington D.C.
Adlington, B. 1998, "Bridge between cultures", Townsville Bulletin, 6 February. p. 24.
Gallagher, J. 1998, "Myriad plays on life", Townsville Bulletin, 23 January. p. 22.
Ruinard, E. 1998, Walking into Light - The Bird Tracks of Calligraphy, catalogue for mid-career survey show, Perc Tucker Gallery, Townsville.
Gallagher, J. 1997, "The shifting visions of a life in progress", Townsville Bulletin, 7 November. p. 26.
Runiard, E. 1997, review of Shifting, Perc Tucker Gallery, Townsville.
Bock, A. 1986, " 'Total Art' at Townsville", Brisbane Courier Mail, 31 May, Art Review.
Bock, A. 1986, "Taking a look at exhibitions of Townsville artists", The Advertiser, Townsville, 29 May.
Searle, R. & Hale, R., 1986, Myth Woman Song, catalogue essay, Perc Tucker Gallery, Townsville.
Collins, K. 1985, "Behind the Queensland blockade for 35 years", Brisbane Courier Mail, 12 May, Reflections.
Campbell, C. 1985, "Dual exposure for local artist", Townsville Daily Bulletin, April, The Arts.
Rees, V. 1985, "A woman's work", Cairns Post, 24 April.
Underhill, N.D.H. & Enright, M. 1985, Queensland/ Works 1950-1985: a survey of 80 painters, University Art Museum, University of Queensland, Brisbane.
Woolcock, P. 1985. "Hot stuff at the institute [of Modern Art]", Brisbane Courier Mail, 27 March, Art Review.
Chapple, V. 1984, "Ranna to study art in Italy", Townsville Daily Bulletin, October, The Arts [N.B. The artist has often been reported under "Ranna", her nick-name, and "Hale", her former surname.]
BY THE ARTIST
Lachlan, R-L. (1998), "Gay Hawkes in North Queensland", Art Monthly, November, pp. 5-7.
Lachlan, R-L. (1996), "Famine, Glut and Gorge: Plenty in Townsville", an exhibition critique for Perc Tucker Gallery.
Lachlan, R-L. (1996), "Foreign Artists, The Goodwill Factor, and a Model for Transcultural Arts Practice", Conference on Artistic and Cultural Expressions, Traditional Knowledge, and Protection of Heritage, University of Queensland, 27-29 September, 1996.
Lachlan, R-L. (1995), Transcultural Synaesthesia: Visual and Musical Experiment Across Cultural and Sensory Planes, PhD Thesis, James Cook University of North Queensland, Townsville.
Hale, R. (now Lachlan) (1989), Painted Designs of Rainforest Aboriginal Shields from North Queensland: An Analysis of Correlation Between Design Styles and Geographical Distribution, Material Anthropology Thesis, James Cook University of North Queensland, Townsville.
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