40 Ken Unsworth 41 ARTLINES 3 | 2025 Though predominantly known for his sculptural work, Unsworth has also painted throughout his career. The dark content of his ‘The mirror and other fables’ series from the mid-1980s was inspired by twelfth-century Japanese scroll paintings of scenes of hell and suffering. The series also speaks to the parallels between Unsworth’s work and German expressionist painting throughout the twentieth century. The bitumen- and aluminium-based painting Night rituals — the tenth work in that series — shows a desolate landscape of inner turmoil. Painted in an expressionistic style using subterranean materials, it depicts scenes of brute force and psychological foreboding, containing tortured figures inspired by the gaki or ‘hungry ghosts’ Unsworth observed in the old Japanese scrolls. Their poses recall the artist’s riveting performances from the 1970s that saw him prop up and hang his own body in sculptural installations. As the artist has explained, ‘Night rituals perhaps expresses somewhat overtly and needlessly, an inner dreamlike landscape of inescapable conflicts and fears that border on erotic and sustaining neurosis’.3 This emotional intensity, combined with Unsworth’s creative approach to materials, can also be seen in his The flight of reason 1991, which brings together an eclectic mix of natural and household items to create a melancholic, dreamlike world. Across his practice, Unsworth embraces mystery, uncertainty and the subconscious to convey the inexplicable — an approach he shares with practitioners of dadaist, surrealist and symbolist art. Reason’s flight is represented in this work by objects gathered around a window frame: stones defying gravity, a whimsical dog figurine chasing them away, and a glowing lamp — perhaps a nod to the Enlightenment. Traditionally, windows symbolise truth: they provide a direct view of the world and represent the single viewpoint on which linear perspective depends. Unsworth interrupts this surety of vision by setting his window at an oblique angle. In his thwarting of the logic of everyday things, the artist gives his installation a strange, poetic atmosphere, creating a sense of wonder tinged with sadness. ‘Ken Unsworth’ offers a glimpse into his long-established practice and provides insights into the material inventiveness, emotional range and global influences at play in the work of this senior Australian artist. Grace Jeremy and Dr Emily Poore are Assistant Curators, Australian Art. ‘Ken Unsworth’ is in the Kenneth and Yasuko Myer Gallery (Gallery 3), QAG, until 8 February 2026. Endnote 1 Anthony Bond, ‘Early sculptures and maquettes’, in Ken Unsworth, ARTAND Foundation, 2018, p.96. 2 Bond, p.96. 3 Ken Unsworth, Artist’s Statement, April 2001, QAGOMA Research Library. Opposite Ken Unsworth / Night rituals (no. 10 from ‘The mirror and other fables’ series) (details) 1984 / Purchased 1996 with funds from an anonymous donor through the QAG Foundation Above An installation view of ‘Ken Unsworth’, featuring Night rituals (no. 10 from ‘The mirror and other fables’ series) 1984 (Purchased 1996 with funds from an anonymous donor through the QAG Foundation); and Inverted stepped pyramid 1974 (Gift of the artist through the QAG Foundation 2024. Donated through the Australian Government’s Cultural Gifts Program), QAG, July 2025 / Photograph: Nicholas Umek ‘Painted in an expressionistic style using subterranean materials, Night rituals depicts scenes of brute force and psychological foreboding . . . inspired by the gaki or ‘hungry ghosts’ Unsworth observed in twelfth-century Japanese scrolls’
RkJQdWJsaXNoZXIy NjM4NDU=