SURVEY INTO THE CRETACEOUS

National Exhibition Register

  • T-REX (Tyrant Lizard King)
    Andrew Sullivan T-REX (Tyrant Lizard King), 2014
    Medium
    oil on canvas
    Dimensions
    153 x 213 cm
    Image Credit
    Courtesy the artist and Galerie pompom, Sydney

About the exhibition

'Survey into the Cretaceous' is a journey into the painter’s imagination. The painter has imagined himself as being an assigned artist with a team of paleontologists, scientists and geographers on a survey expedition into the late Cretaceous period. His brief is to record the fauna and express the experience through an artist's eye. A broad cross-section of species is represented, some now extinct, some still extant today.

Boundaries of reality are not of relevance, barriers between disciplines blurred, this is an act of imagination. The work presented being the product of the journey, tangible evidence of an impossible story.

The analogy of the journey is paramount. As with each individual’s human journey, it is a journey of struggle, learning, growth and ultimately evolution and perhaps, transcendence.

Andrew Sullivan is a Sydney based painter who has exhibited consistently in Sydney and Melbourne since the mid 1990s. He has been a multiple finalist in major national art prizes and in 2014 was the recipient of the Sir John Sulman Prize at the Art Gallery of New South Wales. Sullivan’s portrait of musician and social worker, Omar Abidin, is currently on view in the Salon des Refusés at S.H.Ervin Gallery, Sydney, and his portrait of Professor Paul Korner is currently on view at the National Portrait Gallery in Canberra. Sullivan’s works are held in the collections of the National Portrait Gallery, Artbank, Ballarat Regional Art Gallery, New England Regional Art Gallery, Polo Ralph Lauren, Société General, National Art School Alumni Collection and the Michael Buxton Contemporary Art Collection.

The exhibition is comprised of 17 photographs and 27 paintings, ranging in scale from 153 x 213 cm to 17 x 26 cm.

Andrew Sullivan is best known for his highly-refined, meticulously-detailed paintings. This exhibition includes paintings of some of the most iconic and best-known dinosaurs and flying reptiles of the late-Cretaceous period. These works reference still life conventions and the staged quality of early naturalist illustration but with many of the animals depicted at life size. The photographs add a playful quality to the exhibition and lend authenticity to the conceit of the survey expedition.

Education resources can also be developed around key themes of science and discovery, exploration, extinction and evolution. There are many possibilities for developing engaging public programs for pre-school, primary school age-groups that tap into children’s fascination with dinosaurs and the importance within our culture of journeys into the imagination.

Artists and Curator

Curator
George Adams
Artists

Andrew Sullivan

Available Dates and
Exhibition Details

Available dates
01/05/2019 - 01/05/2022
Exhibition size
Between 50-75 sq or running metres
Originating state
NSW
Organised by
Galerie pompom
Price
Contact to discuss
Accompanying materials available
Digital Catalogue, Exhibition Tour Manual, Installation Support Available, Public Program Opportunities
Other materials
Photographic material serves as a documentation of the 'expedition' and includes dioramas constructed by the artists as well as sketches and drawings. A video is also in production, which adds another dimension to the imagined expedition.
Primary contact
Samantha Ferris
Position
Gallery Manager
Organisation
Galerie pompom
Phone
0430318438
E-mail
samantha@galeriepompom.com
Secondary contact
George Adams
Phone
0412 054 438
E-mail
pompom@galeriepompom.com
Acknowledgement
Courtesy the artist and Galerie pompom, Sydney