Marking 40 years since graduating from the Victorian College of the Arts and commencing a creative career that would evolve over decades, Sydney based artist Bruce Slorach presents his latest exhibition Native Deities, a brilliant and bold love letter to the leafy city of Sydney, and a homage to Australia’s unique natural landscape.

Slorach has enjoyed an extensive and rewarding career in arts, design, graphic and textile design. His work being exhibited, both independently and within group show formats, in leading galleries and museums across the globe.

"Native Deities" by Bruce Slorach

Informed by a myriad of textile and decorative arts traditions born from global trade from the 16th Century onwards, Slorach’s practice speaks of influences far and wide – east to west, and back again. From Indian Kalamkari (chintz), William Morris and the wider Arts and Crafts movement, Lucien Henry, Josef Frank, Stan Kelly, Ellis Rowan, and Margaret Preston.

His is a career that has been shaped by research and inspiration, strengthened through dedicated practice and a continued immersion in and appreciation of the natural world that surrounds us. Slorach’s use of fibre, stitch, print and mixed media techniques breathes new life, and diverse possibilities for honouring and celebrating Australian nature in texture, light, colour, and form.

In his latest collection of works - Native Deities, on exhibition at Woollahra Gallery at Redleaf -  Slorach presents drawings and paintings, alongside a newly developed jacquard tapestry and a series of hand knotted silk and wool wall hangings.

Native Deities will feature new interpretations of the native icons that have become paramount to the Utopia Goods collection – blooms such as the Waratah, Flannel Flower, and multiple contemporary interpretations of the Eucalyptus, in addition to the Kookaburra and Lyrebird.

The evolution of these new works has in some ways taken on the pace of nature, in keeping with Slorach and Tatlow’s investment in quality, and valuing of traditional processes, all hallmarks of the slow-textiles movement. 

The limited-edition Country Bunch fine jacquard tapestry will have taken more than 10 months from initial sketch to finished piece, with the weaving being completed at one of the oldest weaving mills in the United States. Honouring the past whilst celebrating the best of modern technologies. 

Whilst the Kookaburra, Lyrebird and Waratah hand knotted wool and silk wall hangings have each been more than five months in the making. These unique one-off pieces are handcrafted by Indian artisans, their inimitable expertise informed by centuries’ old traditions and the country’s rich deep history of textiles and colour; and are made in the manner of Utopia Goods renowned luxury carpets.

Native Deities opens at Woollahra Gallery at Redleaf, 548 New South Head Rd, Double Bay, Sydney on Wednesday May 3 until Sunday May 28, 2023.

For all enquiries, please contact Utopia Goods:
info@utopiagoods.com
T +61 2 9357 4477

For over 22 years, Slorach operated Deuce Design [multidisciplinary design agency], with his partner Sophie Tatlow.  He has collaborated with many of Sydney's leading design practitioners, architects and cultural institutions including Sydney Theatre Company, The Powerhouse Museum, City of Sydney, Premier's department, RailCorp, Mirvac, JPW, Cox Richardson, SJB, plus many other recognised public and private organisations.

He has completed numerous commissions, including in recent years, two custom designed carpets for Sydney’s Government House and a large scale public art piece, The Native Tapestry, at Barangaroo, Sydney.

Bruce lives in Queens Park, Sydney with his partner Sophie Tatlow.

"I've been painting since I was a teenager and have explored a range of diverse influences; however I've always returned to the idea of a 'sense of place' and what surrounds me. I've never fitted into a particular 'box' but I've always loved the bush and native foliage. Over the past decade my practice has revolved around native flora and an exploration of historical botanical works. I love that Australian plants have a very distinct other worldly personality and an almost Jurassic presence."

Biography

1962 Born in Hamilton, Western District, Victoria

1979 Swinburne Foundation Year

1982 Bachelor of Fine Arts, Victorian College of the Arts

1983 Established Abyss Studios, Galaxy Emporium, Funk Essentials with Sara Thorne

1989 Australian Fashion: The Contemporary Art, Group Show, Sydney Powerhouse Museum of Applied Arts an Sciences

1990-95/96 RMIT, NGV and Powerhouse Museum, Canberra acquire body and archive of work held as permanent acquisitions

1993-98 Creative Director, Mambo Australia

1998-present Founded Deuce Design – multi-disciplinary Design Agency

2011 ManStyle NGV, Group Show

2012 Founded Utopia Goods with Sophie Tatlow

2016 200 Years of Australia Fashion, Group Show NGV

2016 Flora Exhibition, Saint Cloche Gallery Sydney (multi-media works on paper)

2018 Botanica Exhibition, Hamilton Gallery, VIC

2023 Native Deities Exhibition, Woollahra Gallery at Redleaf, NSW

Contact

For inquiries about artworks, please contact Utopia Goods:

34 Oxford Street Paddington, NSW, 2021, Australia
info@utopiagoods.com
+61 2 9357 4477