2009 SAM LEACH: THE NEXT BILLION YEARS
EXHIBITION IMAGES
My work draws on the aesthetics of 17th-century Dutch art. The scientific revolution and the modern commercial corporation both came from the 17th century, with the Netherlands at the centre of both. Science and technology seems to be dependent on commerce, and yet at the same time threatened by it. Corporations and governments seek to use the language of science to persuade and manipulate. Historically, though it is non-human life that has paid the highest price for technology. Still, all life has a stake in technological advancement. Space exploration represents a quest for immortality, and if there is a possibility for any
kind of life to extend beyond planetary timescales this is how it will be achieved.
Sam Leach
2008
Sam Leach has garnered a great deal of attention over the past few years with his success in numerous awards and inclusion in several major exhibitions. In 2008 and 2009 he was a finalist in the Archibald Prize at the Art Gallery of New South Wales. 2008 also saw Leach in
the Fleurieu Biennale, he received a commendation in the Waterhouse Natural History Art Prize and he was voted one of ‘Australia’s 50 Most Collectable Artists’ by Australian Art Collector.
Leach has held seven solo exhibitions, and his work has been exhibited in several institutional and major group exhibitions including in 2008/09 Contemporary Australia: Optimism Gallery of Modern Art, Queensland; Neo Goth: Back in Black, University of Queensland Art Museum; SSFA’s Melbourne Art Fair Exhibition; The Year of the Bird, Hawkesbury Regional Gallery, NSW; Heat: Art and Climate Change, RMIT gallery, Melbourne and in Bal Tashchit: Thou Shalt Not Destroy – the Environment in Biblical and Rabbinic Sources, Jewish Museum of Australia, Melbourne.
In 2007 he was the winner of the acquisitive Eutick Memorial Still Life Award, Coffs Harbour Regional Gallery and Siemens Fine Art Award, RMIT University, and he was a finalist in the Stan and Maureen Duke Award, Gold Coast and the Archibald Prize, Art Gallery of New South Wales. His paintings are held in various private collections in Australia and overseas, and in the public collections of La Trobe University, Geelong Art Gallery, Coffs Harbour Regional Gallery, Gold Coast Regional Art Gallery and Artbank. Sam Leach completed a Bachelor of Economics at Adelaide University in 1993. He studied at RMIT in Melbourne,graduating with a Bachelor of Fine Arts (Painting) in 2003, Honours Fine Art (Painting) in 2004, and a Master of Arts (Fine Arts) in 2005.