Meet SALA artist, Dave Laslett
CityMag sits down with land-based artist Dave Laslett to chat all things art and the SALA Festival.
What’s the best part about being an artist?
Being a durational land-based artist provides extended periods of time within solitary introspection. Embedding within the land brings a rare familiarity to place, non-human life and environmental systems.
I’ve found that when woven into one’s life, it’s a powerful way to tell universal stories and the ultimate tool for expression and a way to make sense of the world.
What’s your favourite artwork created by yourself? Why did it resonate with you so much?
Where I lived \ What I lived for. You can view this work as a dusty outback desert scene but for me this was my literal kitchen. Living and creating out in the scrublands, year after year, is a form of existence I can only recommend, but probably not describe.
Explain your work in the South Australian Living Artists (SALA) Festival exhibition.
LANDWORKS contains intricate hidden worlds of tableau photographic works which were created from living and working in remote South Australian outback bushland.
These staged works contain conceptual stories of discovery, universal loss and uncovered understanding.
I’ve brought down a fully loaded Troopy with some of my most favourite items to build a scaled down land work within the Red Poles Gallery to bring the desert into the traditional gallery space.
What is your favourite thing about SALA?
By its nature, a festival like SALA brings about a heightened state of creativity and awareness of individual and collective art practices. I like to reside permanently within that mode of perpetual creation energy. It’s great that the South Australian government durationally supports and actively promotes artists and making.
You can catch LANDWORKS by Dave Laslett for SALA between August 2 and 31 at Red Poles Gallery at 190 McMurtrie Road, McLaren Vale.
Connect with Dave on Instagram for more.