SALA Feature Artist: Roy Ananda
Posted on: Tue 20 Jul 2021
(Image supplied: The authors of the 2021 SALA Publication ‘Roy Ananda’ [left to right], Bernadette Klavins, Roy Ananda, Andrew Purvis and Sean Williams)
Roy Ananda, SALA’s 2021 feature artist, is a visual artist, writer, and educator practising on Kaurna Country, with two upcoming shows as part of SALA.
Spanning sculpture, installation, drawing, print media, collage, text, sound, video, and performance, Ananda’s work celebrates popular culture, play, process, and the very act of making. Whether its exploding cartoonish conventions, annotations that merge universes, or a large-scale Dungeons and Dragons map, his work draws us in through wry humour, and a collective appreciation for “the idea of enthusiasm”.
Ananda’s Further Annotations is opening on July 31 at the Art Gallery of South Australia and Supreme Library will open on August 1 at the Adelaide Central Gallery. A monograph on his work will be launched alongside the latter show, with an opening event on July 27.
Please note, these events may be subject to COVID-19 restrictions.
Ananda speaks to us ahead of his shows and the conversation wanders through colliding fictional worlds, the familiar pull of fandom, his favourite MF Doom album and how his work reaches even those who only know Star Wars and the Simpsons through pop-cultural osmosis (yes, me). And, keeping with the heavy references to other texts, we also hear about other local artists who are working on the intersection of fandom and contemporary art.
Produced by Anisha Pillarisetty
