Sydney Contemporary 2024 | Lennox St. Gallery | John Aslanidis x Louis Pratt

“Broadly speaking, our practices involve math and science as a core foundation and show how these understandings can be leveraged to produce enigmatic artwork from entirely different perspectives,” Louis Pratt tells me about his and John Aslanidis’ practices, presented together at Sydney Contemporary 2024 for Lennox St. Gallery. “I see a correlation between our practices in how we engage with science,” Pratt went on, specifically his own figurative works manipulated by sine wave math and Aslanidis’ exploration of the dimension between vision and sound.

Works presented include fifteen Aslanidis paintings and ten Pratt sculptures, the presentation being “a junction point where the paintings and the sculpture speak to each other.” In the case of Pratt, “the concepts of sound waves that can be applied to my sculptures have been carefully distorted by the mathematical equation of sine,” while about the paintings, Aslanidis says these “vibrate like sound with linear tonal and chromatic variations which perpetually interact with each other creating a sense of perpetual movement.”

John Aslanidis, circular sonic fragment no.24, 2024, oil and acrylic on canvas, 40cm diameter

For the non-scientifically minded, a sense of movement pervades both practices and, to my mind, forms an intriguing connective point between the artists, inviting us to walk through and to learn and, maybe even, to understand. At the conceptual level, or the point of learning, it is “anamorphic sculpture” and “sonic visual spectacle” in Pratt and Aslanidis’ works, respectively, that are among the key audience takeaways and immersive treats.

‘Anamorphic’ means something is distorted, but, as Pratt explains, when you look from a specific position it can be corrected. Pratt’s sculptural works tease out definitions of anamorphism in sculpture by presenting both oblique and catoptric works. Here, Pratt explains, catoptric (meaning relating to a mirror) works “demonstrate what a ‘real’ image is (in terms of optical physics), which can only be experienced in person. This experience inspires wonder, as we rarely see something we haven’t experienced before.”

A sense of wonder through the viewer’s in-person experience is courted by Aslanidis’ paintings, too. “I have the intention of imparting on the audience an uplifting and contemplative experience, with the intention of connecting them with a sonic visual spectacle,” the artist says. Rather than trying to illustrate sound, Aslanidis gives a visual expression to its physicality and is concerned with the physical reaction viewers have to the paintings.

Louis Pratt, Time will tell

Louis Pratt, Time will tell (detail), 2024, PLA, resin, steel, urethan, fiberglass and paint, 77 x 33 x 26cm

As to the methods of creation, two of the works presented by Pratt are catoptric anamorphic sculptures produced using bespoke software developed with a computer scientist – Dr Nico Pietroni – during the artist’s PhD studies (in Engineering and IT at UTS). “This software calculates how light bends through various media and is foundational to producing these works.” Pratt says he “used a lot of software in the initial stages with 3D printers and laser etching, however, all the works are finished by hand.”

In Aslanidis’ works, “a set of mathematical intervals” are used to compose the sonic network and other asymmetrical sonic series. His background in music and sound theory informs the painting practice, with room in the process for improvisation. “In the sonic network series there is no starting or finishing point, capturing a fragment of infinity,” Aslanidis says, “in this regard my work has a strong correlation with emergence theory,” where “complex patterns emerge out of simple interactions.”

These paintings – of oil and acrylic on canvas – reflect the challenge of capturing sonic reverberations and are created through a technique that involves using masking tape on canvas, painting the oil sections by hand using brushes and spray painting the acrylic sections using an airbrush.

More than eighty-five galleries showcasing the work of more than 400 artists make up Sydney Contemporary 2024. As to the artist and audience draw of the Lennox St. Gallery presentation, Pratt says: “A two-person show allows for deeper and broader conversations about our practices, which gives the audience a more complete experience.”


 

Dr Joseph Brennan is a Lambda Literary Award-nominated author based in Tropical North Queensland.

Sydney Contemporary 2024
Lennox St. Gallery, Booth J04

5 to 8 September 2024
Carriageworks

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