Ralph Kerle

Sydney, Australia / 1970–... Back
Ralph Kerle

Moto

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About

Graduating from the Victorian College of The Arts, majoring in Dramatic Arts and with a Masters in Creative Industries, Ralph came to prominence in Australia in the early 90s as an arts pioneer in multi-media whilst he was associate director of Australia’s leading theatre company, the Sydney Theatre Company. This work led him to a decade or so in directing television commercials for Australia’s leading advertising agencies. For two decades he worked as creative director in his own event company, Eventures, using his multi-media skills to design and produce large scale public and corporate live events.

 

Since 2010 he has worked exclusively on developing his own unique approach and creative practice to multi-media and photographic art with solo exhibitions in Australia, Portugal and Latvia, as part of Art Palm Beach, USA.

 

In 2018 he was nominated as one of Europe’s Emerging Artists with inclusion in the Enter Art Foundations Group Exhibition as part of Berlin Art Week 2019. In 2019 he was awarded a major commission by the Royal Australian Navy resulting in a solo exhibition at the Australian National Maritime Museum and Louis Vuitton Asia Pacific commissioned his works to theme their major retail presence in Sydney Australia.

 

Artist statement
“My art is composed of works that reflect on abstractions in nature as an art form. I am of the opinion abstract painting is not an unconscious act of external visualization by an artist. I believe it forms as the result of an artist's subconscious observation in reality and an abstract painting is the artist's manifestation of what their brain has perceived it sees. My creative process is based on capturing those unconscious abstractions in nature first, using a 21st Century medium - the digital camera – then offering them to the viewer to form their own perceptions of what these natural abstractions represent.” Ralph Kerle 2019 

 

Background to Ralph Kerle's art
The water reflection series is a reinterpretation of Ralph’s earlier multi-media work that has metamorphosed into contemporary art, in the medium of photography. He focuses on capturing images created by, and in nature. These images are visually translated into art that is considered contemporary abstracts.

 

Each work consists of abstractions found in the sun’s reflections on the surface of water. Ralph does not use photoshop nor does he artificially create the abstract photographs in any of his series. The artist’s images are a direct result of nature, and the artist’s swift spontaneous abstract eye. Together they capture a moment in time that exists in reality. There is no right or wrong way to view his work. Each piece the artist offers freely for the viewer to form their own meaning through the artwork's shape, colour and form. The philosophy behind Ralph’s contemporary abstracts is to encourage pleasurable aesthetic meditation and connection.

 

Commissions
Louis Vuitton (Sydney, Australia); NSW Minister for the Arts (Sydney, Australia); Intercontinental Hotel (Sydney, Australia (Nr.1 Rated Hotel Executive Club Lounge); Ramsay Healthcare – The Northside Clinic (Sydney, Australia).

 

Found in corporate and private collections: Australia, China, Germany, Hong Kong, India, Japan, Latvia, Mexico, New Zealand, Portugal, Singapore, UAE, United Kingdom and the USA.


Exhibitions

  • 2020 — Daugavpils (Latvia), Daugavpils Mark Rothko Art Centre, solo exhibition Ralph Kerle (postponed)
  • 2020 — West Palm Beach (USA), Art Palm Beach, group exhibition Ralph Kerle
  • 2019 — Sydney (Australia), Australian National Maritime Museum, solo exhibition “The Art of Navy” commissioned by the Royal Australian Navy
  • 2019 — Sydney (Australia), Ralph Kerle Gallery Intercontinental Hotel, solo exhibition Ralph Kerle
  • 2018 — Lisbon (Portugal), WelcomeArt Gallery Embaixada Real Principe, group exhibition Ralph Kerle
  • 2018 — Berlin (Germany), Enter Art Foundation, group exhibition Enter Art Foundation Exhibition (selected one of 42 emerging artists in Europe Art Awards)
  • 2017 — Berlin (Germany), Galerie Subjectobject, solo exhibition Ralph Kerle
  • 2016 — Melbourne (Australia), Sagra Gallery, solo exhibition Ralph Kerle
  • 2016 — Riga (Latvia), Crea Design Gallery, solo exhibition Ralph Kerle
  • 2015 — Lisbon (Portugal), Espaco Espelho d’Agua, solo exhibition Ralph Kerle
  • 2014 — Sydney (Australia), Gallery 307, solo exhibition Ralph Kerle
  • 2014 — Sydney (Australia), Gallery 88, solo exhibition Ralph Kerle

Awards

  • 2015 — Winner of the 150th Heritage Photographic Competition Willoughby City Council, Sydney, Australia

All works

Artworks

The Unknowable Red   Burnt Out 3   Matisse’s Desert Ebru 1   Vincent’s House   Captain C. Gull on the Helm