“With so much talent on show, it’s clear the future of Australian art is in great hands.”
Next Big Things
National Art School
Darlinghurst
6 – 15 December 2024
There’s a sense of joy and excitement at this year’s National Art School Grad Show which showcases the creative work of Bachelor of Fine Arts graduating students. The exhibition reflects the culmination of their learning journey, with more than 1200 works across ceramics, painting, photo media, drawing, sculpture, and printmaking.
Thousands of visitors are expected to visit the grad show, including galleries and collectors who are hoping to spot “the next big thing” in the art world.
Set in the historical setting of the NAS in Darlinghurst, the art pieces are bold, confident, challenging, and in several instances, graphic. All are thought provoking and offer an insight into minds that contemplate life past and present, social pressures, fears, hopes. It’s clear this exhibition marks a distinct moment in the students’ formation and development.
The artwork themes are diverse – political, fun with a sinister undertone, grief, love, whimsy, to name a few. The artists have used a wide range of materials, from red fire hoses to string to fabric, stone, even everyday items such as furniture. I particularly liked Yuyun Ma’s Face #2 (an unsettling digital mask), Kika Baker’s ‘A Swallowed Cry’ (a striking piece featuring plaster and black ink), and Maria Romeo’s ‘Ballu
Du Ciucciu/Dance of the Donkey’ (a light-filled celebration in a menacing environment).
Other favourites were Saskia Vander’s Biting Down (an emotional yet painful exchange between two people), Billie Goodman’s ‘Exploding Heads’ series, and Isabella Casella’s whimsical works.
Simon Cooper, Interim Director and CEO, described the annual exhibition as a “quintessential experience” for the NAS, and said undertaking a Bachelor of Fine Arts (BFA) was “to declare a unique, and dare I say, courageous vocational commitment”. “This is a celebration for the 2024 graduands as they reach the pinnacle of the past 3 years of study,” he said. “A lot happens in that three-year journey of discovery – a lot of hard work and plenty of challenges punctuated by the odd important triumph. What you can learn through the BFA is to be prepared to engage with the world with a sense of purpose and direction and with that, a sense of possibility. “Perhaps the most satisfying, and I would argue the most important outcome is the awakening and the shaping of an individual artistic identity in each and every graduate, and
this great show is a testament to that success.”
Cooper added: “All our graduands have developed an individual substantial body of work that reflects their individual talents and their interests for things that will form the springboard for a lifetime of continued artistic development.” Graduand Chile Bainbridge said the opportunity to exhibit was “incredibly special” as was the opportunity to be among a strong cohort of students.
With so much talent on show, it’s clear the future of Australian art is in great hands.
