David-Ashley Kerr (b. 1986) is an Australian artist living and working in Melbourne. He grew up on a farm in rural Southwest Victoria, and has gone on to complete a BFA at Deakin University, MFA at RMIT University and recently completed a PhD at Monash University on an Australian Postgraduate Award scholarship. Kerr has shown nationally in Melbourne, Sydney, Perth, Hobart and other regional centres, as well as internationally in China, Germany and the United Kingdom. His artwork centers on ideas of how we as humans simultaneously form a part of, and yet perceive ourselves as standing outside of, the natural. His photographic and moving images reflect on body and landscape, victim and aggressor. Often drawing from the dark, violent and melancholic, Kerr reveals his own personal conceptions of belonging to place, and more broadly, universal concerns of our estranged relationship with the natural world. Kerr has curated many exhibitions in Australia, and in 2013 Co-Founded Melbourne based gallery, Strange Neighbour. He works as a Lecturer at Deakin University and Photography Studies College, Melbourne.His current work for the Leipzig International Artists Programme (LIA) draws on the sincerity of the romantic mode to reflect on the emotional effects of modernity, specifically, the new roles of technology in forming emotional and spiritual connections.
Education
2011
Commenced PhD candidature, Monash University, Caulfield [AUS]
2010
Master of Fine Art, RMIT University, Melbourne [AUS]
2009
Bachelor of Contemporary Art, majoring in Photography, Deakin University, Melbourne, [AUS]
Advanced German Language on exchange from Deakin University, Leuphana University, Lueneburg [DEU]
Selected Solo Exhibitions
2014
Eden, Neospace, Collingwood, VIC [AUS]
Arcadia, C3 Contemporary Art Space, Abbotsford Convent, VIC [AUS]
2013
Introduced Species Queensland Centre for Photography, Brisbane, Queensland [AUS]
2012
Introduced Species The Everleigh Gallery, Melbourne [AUS]
Rückenfigur Perth Centre for Photography, Perth, WA [AUS]
2011
Rückenfigur Dear Patti Smith, Melbourne [AUS]
2009
Circumstantial Contemplation and the Life of Birds, Galerie Eigenheim, Weimar [DEU]
Selected Group Exhibitions
2014
Heysen Prize for Interpretation of Place, Hahndorf Academy, South Australia [AUS]
2013
Hutchins Art Prize, The Long Gallery, Salamanca Place, Hobart, Tasmania [AUS]
Manning Art Prize, Manning Regional Art Gallery, Taree, NSW [AUS]
LAND, Wyndham Cultural Centre, Werribee, Victoria [AUS]
Mirror Mirror: Contemporary photographic self-portraiture Colour Factory Gallery, Melbourne [AUS]
2012
61st Blake Prize Exhibition, S.H. Ervin Gallery, Sydney [AUS]
Shanghai International Photography Festival Shanghai Mart Expo, Shanghai [CHN]
Wilson Visual Art Award, Trinity Catholic College, Lismore, New South Wales [AUS]
Chromogenic 2012, The Age Media House Gallery, Melbourne, Victoria [AUS]
The Study of Everything presented by c3 projects, c3 Contemporary art space,
The Abbotsford Convent, Abbotsford Victoria [AUS]
Contemporary Landscapes in Photography (CLIP) Award exhibition, Perth Centre for Photography, Northbridge, Western Australia [AUS]
The 23rd Musswellbrook Photographic prize (Finalist) , Musswellbrook Regional Arts Centre, New South Wales [AUS]
Ascent, Conduit Arts Initiative, Fitzroy, Victoria [AUS]
2011
Agendo Art Prize (Winner) , St Heliers Street Gallery, The Abbotsford Convent, Victoria [AUS]
Art on Paper, Hazelhurst Art Award 2011, Hazelhurst Regional Gallery, Gymea, New South Wales [AUS]
Contemporary Landscapes, Colour Factory Gallery, Melbourne, Victoria [AUS]
In Solitude, Deakin University Museum of Art, Burwood, Victoria [AUS]
Shelved, Dear Patti Smith ARI, Fitzroy, Victoria [AUS]
2010
Bilderwahn #4, Galerie Eigenheim, Weimar [DEU]
Photography10A , Brunswick St Gallery, Melbourne [AUS]
Through the looking glass, Toyota Emerging Artist Exhibition, Melbourne [AUS]
Off the Wall, Emerging artist showcase, Art Melbourne, Royal Exhibition building, Melbourne [AUS]
Fragments, Guildford Lane Gallery, Melbourne [AUS]
Photography10B, Brunswick St Gallery, Melbourne [AUS]
I am Solitary, I am an Army, Surface Gallery, Nottingham [GBR]
Walker St Gallery Emerging Artist Exhibition, Walker St Gallery, Dandenong, [AUS]
Tidal10: City of Devonport Art Award, Devonport Regional Gallery, Tasmania [AUS]
2009
Kunstlawine Teil 2, Ehemaliges Innenministerium [Former Soviet Interior Ministry] Erfurt, [DEU]
2008
PROJECT8, Deakin University Art Collection and Galleries, Burwood, Melbourne [AUS]
Awards, Publications, Administrative Projects
2014
Carlton Library Light Box Program commission, City of Yarra, Victoria [AUS]
2013
Co-Founder and Panel Chair, Strange Neighbour, Fitzroy, Victoria
2012
Artist in Residence, Central Institute of Technology, Perth, Western Australia [AUS]
Finalist, QANTAS Spirit of Youth Awards (SOYA)
Australian Artists’ Grant & Eckersley’s Art Materials Prize for NAVA members
Artist Speed Dating, Art Month Sydney, Carriageworks, Eveleigh, NSW [AUS]
2011
Agendo Art Prize
Australian Postgraduate Award [APA]
2010
RMIT Vice-Chancellors List Award for Academic excellence in 2010
[PUB] Bilderwahn #4, Eigenheim Journal of Culture, 16 Januar 2010, ISSN:1864-988x [DEU]
Dear Patti Smith, ARI, Board Member, 2/181 Smith St, Fitzroy, [AUS]
Winner, Walker St Gallery Emerging Artist Award, Deakin University Art Gallery Award Exhibition
[AUS]
Highly Commended, TIDAL 10: Devonport Art Award, Devonport Regional Gallery, Tasmania [AUS]
2009
BSG Picture This Prize and Exhibition.Merit prize – Landscape,
Brunswick St Gallery, Melbourne [AUS]
2008
‘City in the Dark’ competition, 2nd Prize, VANBAR Imaging, Melbourne [AUS]
Deakin Travel Grant for University Studies, Deakin International, Melbourne [AUS]
Collections
Deakin University Art Collection and Galleries
Peter Crone Architects
Joss Stone Collection
Central Institute of Technology, Perth, Western Australia
Private Collections, Australia, UK, USA and Germany
Contact
www.david-ashleykerr.com
