Study #15. The Ninth Resort, Charles Avery

20 Jan-8 Apr 2017

Overview

Study #15 looks in depth at the work of British artist Charles Avery (b. 1973, Oban, UK). The exhibition centres on The Ninth Resort, a large ink drawing made in 2010 from the David Roberts Collection. The work depicts a dock scene from ‘The Island’, the epic fictional world to which Avery has devoted his practice since 2004. A small boat returns with hauls of ninth, the local eels central to Island diet, culture and economy. In the crepuscular light, beneath a high dark horizon, the crew of ‘Subsistance’ bring in a meagre catch. Barefooted boys fish off the quay, and long-nosed kepews, indigenous Island scavengers, clamber over the corrugated roof of a packing shed. Metropolitan visitors look on from a popular rustic café, The Ninth Resort.