Born Sydney, Australia in 1970, Tony Schwensen is one of Australia's foremost interdisciplinary artists.
Paralleling political correctness and everyday experiences with artistic and cultural orthodoxies, Schwensen's interdisciplinary art practice examines the deeply flawed underside of cultural life, specifically the clash that occurs at the intersection of artistic values and the economies of production and distribution. Schwensen's practice has always been dependent upon utilising the medium most appropriate for the concept, be it painting, drawing, sculpture, installation, video or performance. Recent investigations have simultaneously combined performance, installation, wall texts, live feeds and video to explore and implode socio-political situations.
He has maintained an active participation in contemporary art practice since 1988, regularly exhibiting nationally and internationally, been directly involved with establishing and running artist run initiatives, hosting international artists, providing exhibition opportunities and maintaining archives of documentation.
Tony completed a PhD at Sydney College of the Arts, University of Sydney, researching the influence and adaptation of the discipline specific investigations of Samuel Beckett on and into historic and contemporary videoperformance practice.
Tony was awarded the Helen Lempriere Travelling Art Scholarship in 1998 which enable him to live and work in Rotterdam, The Netherlands from 1999–2001.
He has received New Work Development Grants from the Australia Council in 1997 and 2003. He undertook a residency at The Cite Internationale des Arts in Paris in 2007.
His work has been exhibited and performed worldwide and written about in publications that include Artforum, Art Krush, Frieze, Art Monthly, Flash Art, Eyeline, Broadsheet, Art & Text, RealTime and Art and Australia.
Selected Recent Individual Exhibitions and Performances
2012 Monkey Business, DB Projects, Sydney,
Leachfield, KalimanRawlins, Melbourne Australia
2010 Monument, Waterloo Center for the Arts, Waterloo, Iowa, USA
Change without Chaos (Now More Than Ever), Uplands Gallery, Melbourne
Regret, Remorse, Repent, Le Lieu, Quebec City, Quebec, Canada
2009 Post Colonial Cluster Fuck, (Collaboration with Trace Collective), Artspace, Sydney
Exasperations, Sarah Cottier Gallery, Sydney
Selected Recent Group Exhibitions and Performances
2012 How Yesterday Remembers Tomorrow , Orange Regional Gallery (23 March - 6 May 2012), Albury Regional Art Gallery (22 June - 29 July 2012), Muswellbrook Regional Arts Centre (3 August - 2 September 2012), Manly Regional Gallery (12 October - 18 November 2012), Gosford Regional Gallery (1 December 2012 - 27 January 2013) , Blue Mountains Cultural Centre (4 February - 17 March 2013) and Redland Art Gallery (QLD) (7 April - 19 May 2013
Performance Art Links Stockholm, Flykingen, Stockholm, Sweden (April 16- April 22 2012)
2011 Monaism, Museum of Old and New Art, Hobart
First Show, KalimanRawlins, Melbourne, Australia,
Whistling Past the Freedom Trail, Hunt Library, Museum of Fine Arts, Boston
Short Sharp Shocks, Barbican Gallery, London, UK
New Work Old Tricks, Campbelltown Arts Center, Campbelltown, Australia
2010 21st Century: Art in the First Decade, Gallery of Modern Art, Brisbane, Australia
Instructions for Initial Conditions, Drift Station, Lincoln, NE, USA
Infr`action International Performance Festival, Sete, France
TAPS: Improvisations with Paul Burwell, Matt's Gallery, London
Gestures and Procedures, Australian Centre for Contemporary Art, Melbourne,
Uplands Gallery, Melbourne Art Fair, Melbourne, Australia
Basil Sellers Art Prize, Ian Potter Museum, Melbourne, Australia
Proof of Purchase, Samson Projects, Boston, MA, USA
Tony is represented by
KalimanRawlins, Melbourne, Australia http://kalimanrawlins.com/
Sarah Cottier Gallery, Sydney, Australia http://sarahcottiergallery.com/
