The great humpback whale’s migration route intersects with Gage Roads, the channel between Wadjemup (Rottnest) Island and Fremantle. This gentle giant is portrayed at 1:1 scale by West Australian artist Ross Potter, who realistically renderd the cetacean with graphite on a very long roll of paper.
WHALE was featured in High Tide 17. High Tide was the first incarnation of the Fremantle Biennale presenting invited local and international artists who respond to and work with the rich landscape that is the tapestry of Fremantle.
This project was assisted by the Australian Government through the Australia Council for the Arts, its arts funding body and advisory body. Whale was supported by the State Government through the Department of Culture and the Arts.
Whale was co-presented with the WA Maritime Museum.
Ref: https://museum.wa.gov.au/museums/maritime/whale
Ross Potter is a Western Australian artist based in Fremantle.
Originally from Brisbane, Potter made his move to the West Coast in 2007, working in the steel industry and creating art in his spare time. In 2011 he decided to take his art more seriously with the creation of his first solo exhibition. Potter’s passion for the arts continued to grow as his practice developed, leading him to pursue his artistic career full time in 2013. The artist now works from his studio based at the J Shed in Fremantle’s iconic West End.
Using Graphite on Paper, Potter dedicates his time to capturing the details in our everyday lives and finds escapism can exist in the simplicity of our very own reality. Altering perspectives and challenging our sense of place, Potter’s work captures the slow evolution of the urban landscape and how we as a community interact with our surroundings. As we fall in and out of love, it is the romance in these minute details that brings us all together.
Ref: https://fremantlestuff.info/arts/artists/potter/index.html 2 March, 2018
Ross Potter is a Kamilaroi man living in Perth who works with graphite and pencil to produce highly detailed representations of animals, minerals and vegetables.
Through magnifying microscopic features, Ross brings the abstractions of reality to our attention, while telling compelling stories of everyday life.
Well-known works include the life-size sketch of Perth Zoo’s elephant Tricia for Fremantle Arts Centre’s Animaze: Amazing Animals for Kids and WHALE at High Tide 17 Fremantle Biennale.
Ross’s most recent artworks are anthropomorphic in nature, reflecting human characteristics in bird forms to tell stories of pain, suffering and adversity.
Natural decay is a recurring theme in Ross’s work. His subjects are often in a state of deterioration, questioning our relationship with nature and the environment.
Since his first solo exhibition in 2011, Ross has worked as a full-time artist with various residencies across Western Australia including Cossack Art Award in 2019 and Fremantle Arts Centre in 2020.
Ross has won many art awards, most notably the finalist in The Lester Prize (BSPP) in 2015 and 2017 and winner of the Leonora Art Prize in 2019.
Ref: https://www.rosspotter.com.au/about
Hung in the Shipwrecks Store House Gallery inside the Ship Wrecks Museum December 14 2018 .
Ross’ philosophy is essentially all about observation. If you spend enough time looking at something you will see something different – something that everyone else walking past won’t.
Ref: 12 December 202 https://www.mattcookphotographer.com.au/the-artists-way-ross-potter/
J Shed No 4 studio Ross Potter was still patiently drawing a life-size humpback whale that will be on display at the Maritime Museum from tomorrow till mid November.
Ref: https://freoview.wordpress.com/2017/10/26/51352/
