OPPORTUNITY: Currarong artist Peter Alwast will take up an arts residency in Asia later this year.
CURRARONG artist Peter Alwast has won a $6000 grant from Arts NSW to undertake a residency in Asia.
The grant, administered by Asialink through its Arts Residency Program, will see Mr Alwast spend three months in Hong Kong.
Working from his Callala Bay studio, Mr Alwast described his work as contemporary art between painting and new media.
“I do painting and drawings and new media animation,” he said.
“I also produce contemporary video in 3D animations.”
He will take up his residency with Videotage, a not-for-profit contemporary arts space, which will provide professional support.
“I’m aiming to make professional development connections during my time in Hong Kong and also draw inspiration from the context,” he said.
He hopes to undertake his residency this October, November and December and will be joined on part of his adventure by his wife Heike and their daughter Isis.
The project will require Mr Alwast to research and create a new series of video works that respond to the high-density urban environment of Hong Kong.
“I want to see how people negotiate public space in high-density planning in a place like Hong Kong,” he said.
“And see how they deal with a built up environment and its restraints – the ways they negotiate space.
“I think it will be an environment that inspires creativity.”
Always interested in art, Mr Alwast grew up on the Gold Coast and completed a Bachelor of Fine Arts at the Queensland University of Technology in Brisbane before doing his Masters in New York, where he lived for four years.
The couple came to Currarong eight years ago to house-sit and in the middle of living overseas for a year in Germany in 2009 decided on buying a property in the Shoalhaven.
“My aunt was selling her home so we went for it. It seemed a much better place to be than in the freezing winter in Berlin,” he said.
“It is a great place to get away from everything and concentrate on my work. There are no distractions.
“There are a number of Sydney artists who have places in Currarong.”
Mr Alwast exhibits his work regularly at Gallery 9 in Sydney where he has an exhibition opening on April 28, in Brisbane with Ryan Renshaw where another exhibition will open on September 18, while he has also had shows in regional galleries in Grafton and has another coming up in Mildura.
Minister for Tourism, Major Events, Hospitality, Racing and the Arts, George Souris announced the NSW Government would provide $24,000 in funding for four NSW-based artists and art managers to undertake arts residencies.
“This project demonstrates connections between Australia and Asia,” he said.
“In 2013 the Asialink Arts Residency Program will send 24 Australian visual and performing artists, writers and art managers to undertake residencies in Asia.”
Asialink will also support four artists from India, Japan, Taiwan and Korea to come to Australia through reciprocal residencies.