Jack Rowland
Artist Profile
Biography
Jack Rowland’s latest exhibition, Un-Earth presents a series of seemingly alien landscapes. These paintings, while otherworldly, are inspired by Lake Mungo, a dried up lake located in Western New South Wales where the oldest human remains outside of Africa have been found. This unearthly landscape of skeletal sand mounds and its intersection with the ancient past, led Rowland to visualise an imagined future, where echoes of the past linger in a post-climate crisis world.
Contemplating humanity’s past and future through an artistic lens inspired by science fiction, Rowland presents a dark cinematic landscape suspended in time and space. Does the landscape depict a desolate state of the future of earth or a new planet to be terraformed? Rowland’s paintings prompt their viewer to simultaneously imagine two very different futures: in one we might become ancient remains for others to unearth, and the other we might move forward to explore undiscovered and unknown landscapes.
Jack Rowland is a Melbourne-based artist that has had numerous solo and group exhibitions in Melbourne and has been a finalist in The Bayside Acquisitive Art Prize, The Hawkesbury Art Prize and The Albany Art Prize. In 2009, he completed a Bachelor of Fine Arts (Painting), at RMIT University in Melbourne.
Jack Rowland’s latest exhibition, Un-Earth presents a series of seemingly alien landscapes. These paintings, while otherworldly, are inspired by Lake Mungo, a dried up lake located in Western New South Wales where the oldest human remains outside of Africa have been found. This unearthly landscape of skeletal sand mounds and its intersection with the ancient past, led Rowland to visualise an imagined future, where echoes of the past linger in a post-climate crisis world.
Contemplating humanity’s past and future through an artistic lens inspired by science fiction, Rowland presents a dark cinematic landscape suspended in time and space. Does the landscape depict a desolate state of the future of earth or a new planet to be terraformed? Rowland’s paintings prompt their viewer to simultaneously imagine two very different futures: in one we might become ancient remains for others to unearth, and the other we might move forward to explore undiscovered and unknown landscapes.
Jack Rowland is a Melbourne-based artist that has had numerous solo and group exhibitions in Melbourne and has been a finalist in The Bayside Acquisitive Art Prize, The Hawkesbury Art Prize and The Albany Art Prize. In 2009, he completed a Bachelor of Fine Arts (Painting), at RMIT University in Melbourne.
SELECTED SOLO EXHIBITIONS
2020 Recovery, James Makin Gallery, Melbourne
2019 The Altered States , James Makin Gallery, Melbourne
2019 Reikai, Backwoods Gallery, Melbourne
2018 SuperNatural, James Makin Gallery, Melbourne
2016 Alternative Territories, Anna Pappas Gallery, Melbourne
2014 Illusive Reality , Anna Pappas Gallery, Melbourne
2012 Unfamiliar , Anna Pappas Gallery, Melbourne
SELECTED GROUP EXHIBITIONS
2021 NotFair art Fair, Melbourne
2021 The Lockdown, James Makin Gallery. Melbourne
2021 Summer New, James Makin Gallery, Melbourne
2020 Summer New, James Makin Gallery, Melbourne
2020 The 9- Annual Supersonic Invitational, Spoke Art, San Fransisco
2019 NEXT , Sydney Contemporary, Sydney
2019 Futures, Hyper Contemporary, Melbourne
2019 Toxic Cosmic, The Wandering Room, Melbourne
2018 Summer New, James Makin Gallery, Melbourne
2018 Fresh Blood, Backwoods Gallery, Melbourne
2017 Aberration, 407T Rose Lane, Melbourne
2016 Bendigo Inaugural Group Show, Gallery 369, Victoria
2016 Linden Postcard Show, Linden New Art, Melbourne
2015 Tomorrow Never Dies, Linden New Art, Melbourne
2014 Group Show, Anna Pappas Gallery, Melbourne
2013 2013… Farewell, Anna Pappas Gallery, Melbourne
2013 Transition Period, Rubicon ARI, Melbourne
2013 Naturlich!, Kunstraum Tapir, Berlin
2013 Above From Below, The Cellar Gallery, Berlin
2012 Kultopia , Blindside Gallery, Melbourne
2011 Belle Arti – Chapman & Bailey Art Prize 2011 , Abbotsford
2011 The Butterfly Effect, Toyota Community Spirit Gallery, Port Melbourne
2011 Art Melbourne- Affordable Art Fair, Royal Exhibition Building, Melbourne
2011 2010 Exploration 10, Flinders Lane Gallery, Melbourne
2010 Fit To Print, No Vacancy Gallery, Melbourne
AWARDS / GRANTS / RESIDENCIES
2016 Finalist in the Bayside Acquisitive Art Prize
2016 Finalist in the Albany Art Prize
2016 Finalist in the Substation Art Prize
2015 Winner of the Hawkesbury Art Prize Highly Commended Award
2015 Winner of the Hawkesbury Art Prize Commended Award
2014 Finalist in the Albany Art Prize
2013 Finalist in the Hawkesbury Art Prize
2013 Takt residency, Berlin
2012 Winner of the Hawkesbury Art Prize Commended Award
2009 RMIT/Tolarno Art Award
