Megalo Residencies: A survey. Various artists. Megalo Print Gallery, 21 Wentworth Avenue, Kingston. Open Tuesday to Saturday, 9.30am to 5pm. Until August 10. megalo.org.
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The Megalo Print Studio + Gallery is the beating heart of the printmaking community in Canberra.
It has, over the years, become a nationally significant focal point for Australian printmakers.
This exhibition, Megalo Residencies: A survey, presents a selection of work made by its artists-in-residence since 2013.
In all, there are 18 artists on display - three emerging artists, Angus Fisher and Douglas Schofield from Sydney, and Sally Mumford from Canberra; six special residencies - Arone Meeks from Cairns and Michael Huddleston Garmarroongoo, Rachael Morris, Violet Wadrill, Biddy Wavehill and Jimmy Wavehill (from the Wave Hill/Jinparrak exchange); two local residencies - Nicci Haynes and Peter McLean; three national residencies - Leah Bullen from NSW and Ellie Malin and Trent Walter from Victoria; and finally four international residencies - Nilinjan Das from India, Prihatmoko Catur Moki from Indonesia, Tomyuki Sakuta from Japan and Bruno Vandenberghe from Belgium.
It is important to mention all of these artists, as Megalo Residencies: A survey is a very diverse exhibition of a high standard and it is impossible to pause individually on the 34 works on display.
It is also gratifying that virtually all of the prints are marked "not for sale" and have been drawn from the Megalo Archive, demonstrating the determination to comprehensively document Megalo's activities.
Arone Meeks is a predictable highlight in this exhibition with his rather wistful and whimsical lithographs.
Their complex multitiered imagery is anchored in Indigenous cosmography and present identity struggles.
I admire not only his ability to weave a narrative that is simultaneously serious and witty, but also his gift for translating an image from a localised reality into one of universal significance.
The Melbourne-based printmaker Ellie Malin is another highlight with her very refined relief woodcuts.
These works seem to pay homage to the floating world of the Ukiyo-e prints and play a game with the celestial music of the spheres.
They are clever and convincing prints with a sense of elegant charm.
Another of the younger artists is Bruno Vandenberghe from Belgium.
He creates large super-cool optical screenprints.
They possess an immersive dimension with their surfaces being bathed in waves of vibrating colour and sound.
His two prints on show have a strangely hypnotic effect on the viewer with their shimmering surfaces.
[Bruno Vandenberghe's] two prints on show have a strangely hypnotic effect on the viewer with their shimmering surfaces.
The ingenious relief engravings by Peter McLean engage the viewer as we are invited to participate in the process of the unveiling of the Moon Cycle.
Nicci Haynes in her explorations of image and sound marks out her territory with boldness and determination.
This is neither a closely curated nor coherent exhibition, but one that builds on the idea that an artist-in-residence within a creative environment is a mutually beneficial spark.