Luke Rion - The Island

Luke Rion is a New Zealand born artist, who is currently based out of Melbourne, Australia. For the last decade his practice has explored figurative and still life subjects, with a particular focus on our nostalgic relationship with objects and the negative space in which they inhabit. Rion’s work explores the ephemeral rituals society has with technology and how something so vivid and so relevant in youth fades and eventually becomes discarded and lost. 

Artist statement:

After a hiatus for the last year to explore the world, Luke Rion is launching his latest exhibition The Island which is the first in a series of creative events that explores a mysterious uncharted location in the depths of the Indian ocean. Drawn from his recent travel adventures The Island combines the visual elements of nature and technology and places them together in a place no person has inhabited for a long time.

Small animals nest and tigers hunt the open shores of the island’s edge. The ocean waves calmly lap against the shore. Glistening sand sparkles from the warmth of iridescent light. Strange crystals emerge from the sand as crabs fight for territory. Discarded arcade cabinets and consoles are buried beneath dense undergrowth, while knotted and woven brambles crowd piles of bananas and birds in ritualistic formations.

As a guest of The Island discover vivid ecosystems where nature has claimed back the landscape but remnants of humans leave you curious for what once was.