Sandra Selig works with a range of media — from sound and light works, and small-scale wall pieces; to works on paper and site-specific installations. Her practice, now spanning more than ten years, has often explored the discrepancy between seeing and what is seen, or that which can be loosely described as the ‘poetics’ of science.
Sandra Selig
Astrophysics is of particular interest to Selig, due to its investigation of objects that cannot be seen by human eyes. Collapsing the boundaries between microcosm and macrocosm, she alludes to the complex systems present in nature and that govern the cosmos.
Selig has continually exhibited in commercial, institutional, and public settings since 2003, and most recently her work was included in Sugar Spin: You, me, art and everything at the Queensland Art Gallery/Gallery of Modern Art in Brisbane in 2016. She has also received significant commissions from the Brisbane City Council, the Queensland Government, and Urban Art Projects since 2004. Her work has also been collected by several public institutions, including the National Gallery of Australia in Canberra, the Queensland Art Gallery in Brisbane, and the Museum of Contemporary Art in Sydney.
Born 1972 in Seven Hills, New South Wales. Currently lives and works in Brisbane, Queensland
Education
1997-99
- Master of Arts (Research) Visual Arts, Queensland University of Technology (QUT), Brisbane
1992-95
- Bachelor of Arts (Visual Arts) with Honours, Queensland University of Technology, Brisbane
Selected Solo Exhibitions
2023
- exploring giant molecules, NorthSite Contemporary Arts, Cairns, Queensland
- Sandra Selig, Milani Gallery, Brisbane
2022
- exploring giant molecules, University of Sunshine Coast Gallery, Queensland
- exploring giant molecules, UNSW Galleries, Sydney
2020
- Drawing in time floes, Milani Gallery, Brisbane
2018
- Modulated Object and Assisted Drawing, Milani Gallery, Brisbane
2016
- pattern ghost, Boxcopy, Brisbane
- outsides, Milani Gallery, Brisbane
2014
- interleaves, Milani Gallery, Brisbane
2013
- sleeping rainbow (interleaves), Sarah Cottier Gallery, Sydney
2012
- light gets in, Milani Gallery, Brisbane
- enough, Sarah Cottier Gallery, Sydney
2011
- be some other material, Artspace, Sydney
2010
- lucid in the art of the unlikely, Milani Gallery, Brisbane
2009
- waves depend on us (light from Tokyo), Milani Gallery, Brisbane
2008
- invisible surround, Milani Gallery, Brisbane
2007
- surface of change, Bellas Milani Gallery, Brisbane
2006
- ground, Bellas Milani Gallery, Brisbane
- circuit (installation), Institute of Modern Art, Brisbane
2004
- Light from elsewhere, The Gallery, Guernsey, United Kingdom
2003
- span (installation), Museum of Brisbane, Brisbane
Selected Group Exhibitions
2023
- ARTIST POET POEISIS, Milani Gallery, Brisbane
- Meet the artists, State Library of Queensland, Brisbane
- Eight Artists, Museum of Contemporary Art Australia, Sydney
2021
- BAD Festival, Brisbane
2019
- The National New: New Australian Art, Art Gallery of New South Wales, Sydney
- Sunshine Coast Art Prize, Caloundra Regional Gallery, Caloundra, Queensland
2018
- Obsession: Devil in detail, Mornington Peninsula Regional Gallery, Mornington, VIC
- Trace, Bunji Place, Narre Warren, VIC
2016
- Sugar Spin: You, me, art and everything, Queensland Art Gallery/Gallery of Modern Art, Brisbane
- Gravity (And Wonder), Penrith Regional Gallery, NSW
- Another Green World, Sarah Cottier Gallery, Sydney
2015
- Kaleidoscopic Turn, National Gallery of Victoria, Melbourne
- Luminous, Museum of Contemporary Art, Sydney
- Writing Art, Artspace, Sydney
2014
- Framed Movements, Australian Centre for Contemporary Art, Melbourne
- Notes from the Field, Margaret Lawrence Gallery, Victorian College of the Arts, Melbourne
2012
- Contemporary Australia: Women, Gallery of Modern Art | Queensland Art Gallery, Brisbane
- ExPost Triennial, Queensland University of Technology Art Museum, Brisbane
- Gold Coast Art Prize, The Gold Coast Arts Centre, Gold Coast
- Build Me a City, Australian Experimental Art Foundation, Adelaide
- Sonic Spheres, Tarrawarra Museum of Art, Victoria
2011
- Ten Years of Contemporary Art: The James C Sourris AM Collection, GOMA, Brisbane
- Cells and silos, Monash University Museum of Art, Melbourne
2010
- Adelaide Biennial of Australian Art: Before and after science, Art Gallery of South Australia, Adelaide (with Leighton Craig)
- Freehand: Recent Australian Drawing, Heide Museum of Modern Art, Melbourne
- Zen to Kawaii: The Japanese Affect, Queensland University of Technology Art Museum, Brisbane
2009
- Avoiding myth & message: Australian artists and the literary world, Museum of Contemporary Art, Sydney
2008
- In the space of elsewhere, Stanley Picker Gallery, Kingston University, London
- New08, Australian Centre for Contemporary Art, Melbourne
- Adelaide Biennial of Australian Art: Handle with care, Art Gallery of South Australia, Adelaide
2006
- Paper, Perth Institute of Contemporary Art, Perth
- POW (Personal Other World), Canberra Contemporary Art Space, Canberra
- Prime, Queensland Art Gallery, Brisbane
2005
- Primavera, Museum of Contemporary Art, Sydney
- Temperature, Museum of Brisbane, Brisbane
2003
- Paper cuts, Monash University Museum of Art, Melbourne
Public Art Commissions
2014
- Echo Orbit, powder-coated aluminum and steel cable. Shade canopies, Brunswick St Mall, Brisbane. Brisbane City Council.
2012
- Cloud Wall, 12 x 1.5 x 6 m, steel and glass, internal/external sculptural wall. One One One Eagle Street, Brisbane. Cox Rayner Architects, Constructed by Arden.
2011
- Electron Screen, 23 x 4.5 m, laser cut, powder coated aluminum, external. Corner McLachlan St and James Street, Brisbane. George Group, Constructed by McLay Industries.
2008
- Continuum, 80 x 1.5 m suspended. Powder coated aluminum, colour filtered led light, Brisbane International Airport, Bligh Voller Nield, Constructed by Albert Smith Signs
2004
- Slowness of Light interior glass/light sculpture and wall relief (3 x 3 m, 7 x 3 x 3 m variable)
- Saville Hotel, Brisbane. Stocklands, Fairweather Proberts Architects, Urban Art Projects
- Stray Lines, tensioned PTFE, thread, piano tuning pegs, 3 separate works across 3 internal window voids (3 x 6 x 12 m each) Brisbane Magistrates Court. JAG, QLD Government Art Built-In, Cox Rayner Architects.
- Dividing, exterior concrete screen, (12 x 6 m) Galleria Apartments, Brisbane. Fairweather Proberts Architects, Honeycombes, Urban Art Projects.
Residencies
2008
- Australia Council Studio, Overseas Studio Residency, Tokyo, Japan (awarded 2006)
2004
- International Artist in Residence Program, Guernsey College of Further Education, Art and Design, St Peter Port, Guernesy, UK
Collections
- National Gallery of Australia, Canberra
- Museum of Old and New Art, Hobart
- Monash University, Melbourne
- National Gallery of Victoria, Melbourne
- Queensland Art Gallery | Gallery of Modern Art, Brisbane
- Queensland University of Technology Art Museum, Brisbane
- Museum of Contemporary Art, Sydney
- Art Gallery of South Australia, Adelaide
- University of Queensland Art Museum, Brisbane
Bibliography
- 2009 Hannah Matthews: (ex.cat) In The Space of Elsewhere Stanley Picker Gallery, London
- 2008 Andrew McNamara: (ex. cat) New 08 Australian Centre for Contemporary Art, Melbourne
- 2008 Rex Butler: (ex. cat.) Adelaide Biennial of Art ‘Handle with care’, Art Gallery of South Australia, Adelaide
- 2007 Courtney Pederson: (review) Eyeline Spring/Summer 2007
- 2006 Rex Butler: Circuit (catalogue essay) Institute of Modern Art, Brisbane
- 2005 Ainslie Murray: Artlink, March 2005 edition
- 2004 Joanna Littlejohns: Sandra Selig (12pp catalogue) March – April 2004, The Gallery, Grange House, Guernsey College of Further Education ,Great Britain
- Morgan Thomas: Sandra Selig (ex.cat) Temperature – Contemporary Queensland Sculpture, Museum of Brisbane, QLD, p 46.
- 2003 Morgan Thomas: In pursuit of the fugitive (review) ‘Today’ The Courier Mail, Brisbane, Wednesday Sep.17, p20. (also rewritten for ‘Local Art’, Issue 8, November 2003, p1 -2).
- Natasha Bullock and Katarina Paseta: Papercuts (ex.cat) Monash University Museum of Art, Clayton Vic. 2003
- Heidi Maier: Review (Span), ‘Review’, The Courier Mail, Brisbane, Wednesday, Feruary 19, 2003, p 17.
- 2002 Josh Milani: Mutable Spaces (ex.cat) Metro arts, Brisbane 2002.
- David Hanson: The Shape of Air (ex. cat.), Plimsoll Gallery, University of Tasmania, Hobart, 2002
- Sarah Stratton: Frequency (ex.cat.) Maureen Burns, Margaret Roberts, Sandra Selig, Artspace, Sydney, 2002.
- Ihor Holubizky: Mutable Spaces (review) Eyeline, Autumn / Winter 2002, p46.
- 2001 Morgan Thomas: A Minimal Adherence (ex.cat.) Monochromes, edited D. Pestorius, University Art Museum, The University of Queensland, Brisbane, 2001.
- Helen Nicholson: Surface Tension (ex.cat.) Surface Tension, 200 Gertrude Street,Fitzroy, Victoria, October 2001.
- Robert Nelson: Medium becomes essential to artists message, (review) ‘Breaking News’, The Age, Melbourne, Sat. October 6, 2001, p.22.
- Elizabeth Ruinard: Sounding Out Installation, The Work of Sandra Selig and the Permeable Body (feature article) Eyeline, Spring/Summer 2001.
- 2000 Elizabeth Ruinard: To-ing and froing between the wall, the floor, the space and the body: Bodily thinking in the artwork of selected Queensland Installation Artists, in Rethinking Creative Processes, Peter Lang, Bruxelles, 2000, pp. 165 – 175.
- Robert Nelson: Digital forms speak language of the screen (review) ‘Today’ The Age, Melbourne, Fri. 28th July, 2000, p.4.
- Peter Anderson: No Noise (review) Eyeline #42, Autumn/Winter 2000.
- Max Delany: Techno-minimalism (ex.cat.) Octopus No.1 200 Gertude Street, Fitzroy, Victoria, July 14 - August 26 2000.
- Andrew McNamara: Sandra Selig (interview, ex.cat.) No Noise , Metro Arts, Brisbane, March 8-April 28, 2000 pp. 13-15