FORCED PERSPECTIVE brings together playful and immersive works by contemporary visual artists from Australia, New Zealand and Indonesia. Curated by Daniel Qualischefski, it features artists Linda Clark (Springfield), Stephen Coutts (Ayr), Ann Debono (Melbourne), Marion Gaemers (Townsville), Peatree (Auckland, New Zealand), Sarah Ryan (Toowoomba), Uji 'Hahan' Handoko Eko Saputro (Yogyakarta, Indonesia) and Andrew Strauss (Canberra).

The exhibition considers the positions of the curator and artist in directly shaping the experience of the viewer. The act of viewing is framed as an active and occasionally interactive response, led by discovery, innovative perspectives and formal composition. The spatially engaging artworks include lenticular photographs, installations, paintings, textiles, sculptures, palindromic panels and interactive digital works.

FORCED PERSPECTIVE is curated by Daniel Qualischefski of Umbrella Studio Contemporary Arts. The North Australian Festival of Arts (NAFA) is a commissioning partner for the exhibition.

FORCED PERSPECTIVE Catalogue
The catalogue is being sold for $10.00 - in person at the gallery and online here. 

Linda Clark is an installation artist and a lecturer in Sculpture at the University of Southern Queensland (UniSQ). Her work has featured in both national and international exhibitions, including Dark Rituals: Magical Relics from the Little Art Spellbook at the University of Sunshine Coast and UTAS, and Antipods: Magical Creatures with Backward Feet at the University of Saskatchewan, Canada. Linda has engaged in curatorial projects such as Tethered: Embodying the Mother-Artist Model at UniSQ Arts Gallery. In 2015, Linda won the Queensland Regional Art Awards Gray Puksand Digital Award. Her doctoral research investigated whether a practice-led research methodology titled ‘The Mother-Artist Model’ can be used within a collaborative network of mother-artists to facilitate practice, engagement, and exchange, to overcome regionalism.

Stephen Coutts (b. 1957, Burdekin) has lived in Ayr / the Burdekin, Queensland for most of his life. He holds a Diploma of Fine Art, Queensland College of Art (1979) a Graduate Diploma in Teaching, Kelvin Grove College of Advanced Education (1980), Bachelor of Education, Deakin University (1993) and Certificate in Studio Ceramics, Burdekin TAFE (1998). Coutts was a senior Visual Arts teacher from 1984 until 2019, and has since retired and exhibited more broadly in North Queensland. The artist held his first solo exhibition at Umbrella in 2020. Coutt’s practice spans drawing, sculpting and printmaking and engages with chance, pareidolia and the subconscious.

Ann Debono (b. 1989, Maitland, NSW) lives and works in Melbourne, Victoria. Debono is represented by Sutton Gallery, Melbourne. She has held solo exhibitions for Sutton Gallery and at Gertrude Glasshouse, KINGS ARI and CAVES Gallery. The artist’s work is held in the collections of Artbank, Monash University, Joyce Nissan Collection and private collections throughout Asia and Australia. Debono holds a Bachelor of Fine Arts/Visual Arts, Hons. (First Class Honours), Victorian College of the Arts, University of Melbourne. She completed a Cranbourne Fellowship at the British School at Rome, and was awarded a John Vickery Scholarship (2014) and the Chapman and Bailey Prize for Painting (2013). The artist has twice been a finalist in the Bayside Art Prize and was recently included in the Geelong Contemporary Art Prize (2022).

Hahan (Uji Handoko Eko Saputro) (b. 1983, Kebumen, Indonesia) is a contemporary artist based in Yogyakarta, Indonesia. He has exhibited widely in Indonesia and internationally, including solo exhibitions at Darren Knight Gallery, Sydney (2020), Deutsches Hygiene-Museum, Dresden, Germany (2019), Art Fair Philippines (2016) and Carriage Works, Sydney (2013). Hahan has been included in Contemporary Worlds: Indonesia, National Gallery of Australia (NGA) (2019), Art Basel, Hong Kong (2019), NGV TRIENNIAL, National Gallery of Victoria (NGV) (2017) and the 7th Asia Pacific Triennial of Contemporary Art (APT7), Queensland Art Gallery | Gallery of Modern Art (QAGOMA) (2012). His works are held in institutional collections including NGA, NGV, QAGOMA and Art Gallery of New South Wales (AGNSW). Hahan was also one of the founders of Ace House Collective (est. 2011), a youth artist collective and initiative space based in Yogyakarta.

Marion Gaemers is (b. 1958, Australia) has exhibited her work in local and national exhibitions since 1988. Gaemers considers herself a basket maker, continuing the traditions of women using traditional techniques. Teaching and sharing these traditions plays an important role in her arts practice. Gaemers has worked with Lynnette Griffiths, Erub Arts and the Ghost Net Collective extensively, collaborating for projects and exhibitions. Gaemers has works held in major collections including the Australian National Museum, Australian National Maritime Museum, Museo Sa Bassa Blanca, Spain, Musee d’ethnographie de Geneva (MEG) Switzerland and the Art Gallery of New South Wales, Sydney. Recent exhibitions have included Left Over Love: New Directions, Pinnacles Gallery (2023), Sculpture botanica, Cairns (2022) and the duo exhibition Final Curtain with Lynnette Griffiths at Umbrella (2020).

Peatree is a South African born, Aotearoa (New Zealand) raised interdisciplinary visual artist, currently based in Auckland, New Zealand. Her distinct, illustration-driven design aesthetic explores her evolving positionality in relation to her identity around ethnicity, gender and sexuality. Peatree completed an artist residency at Poh Chang Academy of Arts, Bangkok, Thailand in 2020, and has held numerous solo and group exhibitions in Auckland, Bangkok and Melbourne galleries. The artist has produced numerous murals and public works for commissions, galleries and locations in Melbourne and Sydney.

Sarah Ryan (b. 1975, Canberra) lives and works in Toowoomba, Queensland. The artist holds a Bachelor of Visual Arts (Fine Art), QCA (1995), and a Bachelor of Fine Arts (First Class Honours), Tasmanian School of Art, University of Tasmania, Hobart (1997). In 2002 she was awarded a Dean's Commendation for her Doctorial Thesis from the Tasmanian School of Art, University of Tasmania. Ryan has participated in numerous national and international exhibitions since 1996 including Farr Street, Minerva, Sydney (2023), The Floral Gift: In Search for the Meaningful, Open Source Gallery, Brooklyn, New York (2014), Joy before the Object, Art Gallery of New South Wales (2013), Perfect for every occasion: photography today, Heide Museum of Modern Art (2007), Light Sensitive (National Gallery of Victoria (2006) and Primavera, MCA, Sydney (2002). She has held thirteen solo exhibitions, including at Alexandra Lawson Gallery, Ryan Renshaw Gallery, Melbourne Art Fair and Gitte Weise Galerie, Berlin. Ryan was awarded the Art & Australia / Credit Suisse Private Banking Contemporary Art Award (2011) and the Kunstlerhaus Bethanien Australia Council Studio in Berlin (2008). Her work is held in major collections including Art Gallery of New South Wales, National Gallery of Victoria, Artbank, and Australian Consulate, Frankfurt, Germany.

Andrew Strauss is a digital artist and contemporary printmaker based on Ngunnawal Country, Canberra. Strauss has a diverse background spanning art direction, graphic design and illustration, and for a long time he kept his design and art practices distinct. His recent work embraces and celebrates the creative nexus between the two. Strauss’ work has been featured in art and design books and magazines, music and fashion labels, and has even found its way onto apparel and tattoos. Known as an innovator in the field of generative arts, Strauss is continually pushing boundaries in his quest to combine the precision of technology with the spontaneity and vibrancy of human creativity.