CHASING CLOUDS
Chasing Clouds | Artist Jonathon Zalakos
Friday 19 July - Saturday 24 August 2024
Catalogue | Room Sheet | Buy the Work
Jonathon Zalakos employs motifs of cloud-like abstraction, utilising silver inlay on steel to create representational relief work as externalised models of the unconscious in a modern context. Building on his goldsmithing practice, Jonathon presents a sample of works created as the result of receiving the 2022 Craft + Design Canberra CAPO Award. The award enabled the artist to purchase hammer forming equipment which he used to explore high relief chasing and repousse - metalworking techniques that involve carefully beating both sides of metal sheet in a bowl of pitch.
Jonathon Zalakos is a contemporary jewellery and object maker based in Canberra, on Ngunnawal and Ngambri land. Jonathon seeks to integrate contemporary philosophy with traditional goldsmithing materials and techniques through his practice. He has a particular focus on the psychological influence of the designed world and considers how designers can work toward manifesting alternative, ecologically conscientious ways of being.
Since graduating from the Australian National University in 2022 Jonathon Zalakos has been the recipient of numerous awards and grants, including the ANU School of Art & Design Graduate Excellence Award, the M16 Exhibition and Residency Award, and the Robert Foster Memorial Grant. His work has been exhibited in various group and solo exhibitions. In addition to his art practice, Jonathon has experience as a research assistant and sessional lecturer at the Australian National University School of Art and Design, and currently works at the National Gallery of Australia.