Rowland Contemporary

Vending machines play an interesting role in contemporary art nowadays, as it is one of those installation pieces most artists use. They are used to convey an underlying message of the artists to the society and to the world.

One good example is Jane Naylor who has been using Vending Machines Sydney since 2006 to promote art. She calls this installation as ‘Snack Art’, which has been critically-acclaimed for its witty and very inventive usage of vending machines.

 Naylor has been in the art scene since the ’90s. She has exhibited in a number of shows and gathered awards in Australia and in other parts of the globe. In Snack Art’s official website, Naylor describes it as a ‘project to dispense inexpensive yet refreshing, curious and original artworks from vending machines both static and mobile’.

Vending Machines Sydney did not just become an ordinary vending machine you see everywhere, but it became an ‘alternative art galleries that satisfy aesthetic hunger with the tempting range of Snack Art’.

 So how do those artsy Vending Machines Sydney exactly work? The vending machines offer snacks such as chips and chocolates and artworks by various artists to everyone, which is a unique way of feeding the body and soul from one machine. In Naylor’s words, purchasing an artwork would ‘assuaged physical thirst or hunger’ and that goes the same thing for buying snacks like chocolates. Naylor has set the artwork’s and the snacks’ prices individually. All of the proceeds go back to the artists. Truly, she is living up to Snack Art’s tagline which is “low calorie, high intellect”.

 Vending Machines Sydney has indeed started an intellectual trend which others call ‘vending machine art‘. Other parts of the globe has been doing the same thing too, using vending machines to promote art to ordinary people.

rowlandcontemporary is pleased to present One Last Single Solitary Moment, a solo exhibition by Brooklyn-based artist Diana Puntar. Puntar explores notions of a post-apocalyptic future as filtered through material desires. Brian Collier joins us in the Project Room to present selections from The Highway Expedition, his examination into the collision between nature and man.

Join us for an opening reception Friday, May 25, from 6-9pm.

rowlandcontemporary is pleased to present Much, Much More Than Previously Imagined, a solo exhibition by Chicago-based artist Tom Denlinger. Denlinger’s multi layered and large scale photographs explore a unique dynamic by attempting to interfere with and redefine historically recognized images and narratives. This exhibition will run from May 16 – June 28, 2008. This is the artist’s first exhibition with rowlandcontemporary.