Leslie Eastman studied literature and philosophy at Melbourne University and completed a Masters in Fine Art at RMIT. He currently coordinates the painting program in the Department of Fine Arts at Monash University. He is affiliated with RMIT Space and Environment research cell, and with researchers at AUT New Zealand and Central St Martins Arts-Science Masters Program in the UK.

Research Statement
My research commences with an interrogation of the expanded field of painting and issues of representation and perception. The current practice takes many forms including drawing, video, and photography often utilising architectural installation in a context specific to site. The various projects that I have engaged in typically question conventional notions about the form or object-hood of art and art making and by extension propose contingent approaches to materials and process.

I attempt to articulate an experience in the artwork that reveals the circular and contingent relationship between the subject and the object, the viewer and the viewed. The notion of the boundary between the interior and the exterior is central in my work. The various screens, frames and mirrored surfaces are materials that I employ to problematise the apparent demarcation between the real world and the internal world of the viewer. In this regard the writings of Merleau-Ponty, Bergson and Deleuze are influential. The work is speculative rather than definitive; on occasions proposing a model of the intertwining of subject and object and at other times an infinite regress.

A corollary of this is the idea of the interrelatedness of place and context. On a number of occasions I have attempted to draw relationships between a particular architectural site or landscape and the expanded field of its geographic, cultural or temporal context that constitutes both its uniqueness and interdependence. I have done this through a number of methods including the camera obscura and internet technology.

I view collaboration as a way of questioning conventional assumptions about the nature of artistic activity as well as working in response to a situation or location as a way of extending and testing the role of my own art practice and its outcomes. As a result I have collaborated with artists such as Andy Thomson and Daniel von Sturmer and in recent years with New York based artist Natasha Johns-Messenger. I am currently a coordinator of Light Projects a collaborative curatorial project in Melbourne that has staged a series of projects by local and international artists exploring the phenomenology of perception and psychoanalytic theory.

Qualifications

Bachelor of Arts, Melbourne University
Bachelor of Fine Arts (Hons), RMIT University
Masters by Research, RMIT University

PhD Monash Faculty of Art and Design (currently enrolled)

Professional activities
Senior Lecturer, Painting Program Coordinator, Department of Fine Arts, Monash University

SELECTED  COLLABORATIVE PROJECTS
2011-12 XYZ-NYC with Natasha Johns-Messenger, 2009-11Light projects research project with Tamsin Green, Dr. Bradley Haylock, Imogen Beynon, and Stephen Palmer, 2011 Synoptic 11 with Natasha Johns–Messenger, Light Projects, Melb, 2008 Dark Light with Natasha Johns-Messenger commissioned for My Doubtful Mind, curated by Jan Duffy, Linden, Melb, 2006 Synoptic 06 with Natasha Johns-Messenger, Mir 11, Melb, 2005 Formless, commissioned by Experimenta art Inc for Vanishing Point, Melb, 2004 Pointform, with Natasha Johns-Messenger, Conical Gallery, Melb, 1998 Cube, with Andy Thomson and Daniel von Sturmer in Strangely Familiar, curated by Claire Williams, ACCA, Melb, 1997 General Review of Gain and Loss, with Andy Thomson and Daniel von Sturmer, Westspace, Melb 1996 The Art of Listening, with Brenda Ludeman, Nicole Tomlinson and Georgina Konstandakopoulos, Linden Gallery, Melb.

SELECTED SOLO EXHIBITIONS

2011 A History’s Shadow 2010 Meridian Light Projects, 2006 Apartment, at Apartment, 2003 Eraserhead RMIT Project Space, Melb. 2002 Several Contingent Provisionalities, Penthouse and Pavement, Melb. 1998 Untitled, Grey Area Art Space Inc, Melb, In the Light of the Other 1st Floor Artist and Writers Space Melb,1997 Scan, Studio 12, 200 Gertrude St, Melb, Flux, Stripp Gallery, Melb,1996 In Time 1st Floor Artist and Writers Space, Melb.

SELECTED GROUP EXHIBITIONS
2008 Searching for My Father’s Housein Worlds End, curated by Steven Rendal and Meredith Turnball, Carlton Hotel, Melb, 2007 An answer for the parts only itinerant sighs can fathom, curated by Storm Gold, Victoria Park Gallery, Cycle in Stranger Geography curated by Kit Wise, Palazzo Vaj Prato Italy, 2005 Australian New Media Art, Museum Of Contemporary Art, Skopje, November, Australian Video Art 5uper, Museumsqartier, Vienna, 2004 The Visible and the Invisible commissioned for Swoon, ACCA, Melb, 2003 Video Projekt, Kings Space Gallery, Melbourne, VCA Projects, curated by John Neeson, VCA Gallery , Melbourne, 2002 Gating curated by Michael Graeve, Westspace, Melb, 1998 Lux, Curated by Julian Savage, 1st Floor, Melb, 1997 Flat, curated by Michael Goldsmith, RMIT Project Space, Melbourne, Adjacent, curated by Susie Atiwell, 200 Gertrude St, Melbourne, 1996 Dermartology, curated by Stephen O’Connell, 200 Gertude St, Melb. In Focus 2 Robert Lindsay Gallery, curated by Jan Nelson and Brenda Ludeman

AWARDS

2010 Australia Council New Work Grant, Arts Victoria Programming Grant, 2008 MUSG for Dark Light, Linden Centre for Contemporary Art 2006 Venice Biennale Educators Development Grant, 2005 Australia Council; New Work Grant, Experimenta Commission Funding, 1998 Australian Film Commission Grant for @, 200 Gertrude St, Melbourne,1997 200 Gertrude Studio Residency,  Arts 21 Grant for General Review of Gain and Loss, Westspace, Pat Corrigan Grant for General Review of Gain and Loss, RMIT Postgraduate Award 1995 William Anglis Graduate Prize, Neville Jeffress Graduate Prize

SELECTED PRESS
2010 Meridian catalogue essay, Melissa Miles 2008 My Doubtful Mind The Age, May 6, 2004 Swoon, Robert Nelson, The Age, 9th of August, The Visible and the Invisible, Rebecca Coates, Catalogue essay for Swoon, ACCA, Through streets of Glass to the City of Gold, Kerrie-Dee Johns, Un Magazine, Issue 2, Swoon, Andrea Tu, Broadsheet, Contemporary Visual Arts and Culture, Volume 33, No3, 2003 VCA Projects, Robert Nelson, The Age, 12th June, 2002 Public Hangings Interview, Andrew McKenzie, Through a Glass Darkly, Robert Nelson,, The Age, 7th September, 2000 Good Thinking, Daniel Parmer and Julian Savage, Ist Floor Artists and Writers Space, Webcams, The aesthetics of Liveness, Daniel Palmer, LIKE, Art Magazine, 12 (Winter 2000), 16-22, 1998 Games of Selective Vision, Peter Timms, The Age, 23rd September, @ Review Eyeline Issue 37, Daniel Palmer, Spring, 38-9, The Edge of Reality, Anita Bragge, Herald Sun, 19th of September, Morning Star Evening Star, Claire Williamson, catalogue essay, Strangely Familiar, Danny Huppatz, Art and Text, October, A General Review of Gain and Loss, Stephen O’Connell, Art and Text, April, General Review of Gain and Loss, Tanya Eccleston, catalogue essay, 1997 Flux , Brenda Ludeman, Like Magazine, November

All images copyright Leslie Eastman 2011