Opening Reception RE:WILD

RE:WILD

An exhibition of 12 artists who currently call Maketank home. RE:WILD is both an introduction to the work of these artists and the theme chosen by Maketank to frame this year’s curatorial and conversational endeavours.

The 12 exhibiting artists were selected from an open call, to be mentors for emerging artists whilst developing their own creative practice. They have diverse backgrounds: several have recently graduated, some have a long-standing practice, while others are returning to their practice after a necessary interlude.  All work exhibited was produced during the past 12 months, with many pieces made specifically for the exhibition in response to the theme.

ARTISTS in alphabetical order: =Abigail Schaefer @abigail_schaefer =Annabelle Tim Hogben @Annabelle_Tim_Hogben =Annie Murdock @_annie_murdock_ =ARTEL (Brown + Petrakova) =Caroline Mawdsley =Erika Cann @erikac_art =Matt O'Halloran @_mattillustrates_ =Nigel Moores @moores.n =Ralph Nel @ralphnelart =Stella Tripp @stella.tripp =Val Jones @valjones31

The term ‘rewilding’ was coined by Dave Foreman, co-founder of Wild Earth magazine and The Wildlands Project, in the early 1990s, and revived by George Monbiot in his impassioned book Feral: Searching for Enchantment on the Frontiers of Rewilding (2013) in which he states, “Rewilding, to me, is about resisting the urge to control nature and allowing it to find its own way.”

The notion of ‘rewilding’ has since expanded to include ways in which we might reconsider cultural paradigms such as education, academia, feminism, urban planning, the arts – in respect not only to our reintegration within the natural world, but also, as a state of being that might allow for organic developments and ‘untamed’ processes to unfold.

And yet the creative process is inherently one of cultivation. In making art we are making choices, choices which reflect our experiences and engagement with the materials and the world around us. Each artist in this exhibition offers their own perspective on how our creative practice might balance the cultivating impulse at the heart of artistic activity with the forces and processes that emerge of their own accord.

RE:WILD is an invitation to think ecologically, to ponder our own human experience with and within nature, to perceive and question the processes happening all around and within us. It is also an appeal to regard the wild - the feral sensibilities that inspire, cajole and push against our more domestic tendencies. We hope you find much here that calls to you.