Hany Armanious

Hany Armanious’ newest body of work integrates distinct aesthetic references, as he subtly destabilises the
contrivances of contemporary art appreciation. Hard-edge and expressive gestures, sourced from found drawings,
connote the traits of high modernist art. These are transposed into carpets reminiscent of the tradition
of decorative tapestry, invoking both opulence and grandeur. This is set against the cold mechanism of Armanious’
industrially produced carpets, as the artist interrogates and delineates our notions of ‘authenticity’.
Armanious’ sixth solo presentation at Roslyn Oxley9 Gallery continues his conceptual investigations into the
logic of the ready-made, and methods of artistic (re)production. In doing so, he grapples once more with the
hierarchical value systems that act as cultural filters in our experiences of the art object, whilst delivering a rich
and visually compelling material language.
Denise Thwaites, 2015
Last year Armanious’s work was included in Post-Picasso. Contemporary Reactions at the Museu Picasso in
Barcelona. In 2012 the Museum of Contemporary Art, Sydney unveiled Armanious’s most ambitious sculpture
to date, Fountain, the first sculpture commissioned for the MCA’s new outdoor sculpture terrace. In 2011, Hany
Armanious was the sole representative of Australia at the 54th Venice Biennale, curated by Anne Ellegood (Senior
Curator of the UCLA Hammer Museum, Los Angeles). Armanious’s recent solo exhibitions include Selflok
at City Gallery Wellington, New Zealand--the second iteration of the exhibition first shown at the UCLA Hammer
Museum in Los Angeles in 2001--The Golden Thread at Monash Museum of Art, Melbourne (2012), The
Oracle (curated by Anthony Huberman) at the Contemporary Art Museum St Louis, USA (2008) and Morphic
Resonance at the Institute of Modern Art, Brisbane and City Gallery Wellington (2006 & 2007). Armanious has
exhibited at several biennales, including the 2010 Adelaide Biennale, the 2006 Busan Biennale, the 1995 Johannesburg
Biennale, and the 1992 Biennale of Sydney, and in 1993 he was selected for the Aperto section of
the Venice Biennale. Armanious’ work is held in major public and private collections worldwide, including most
major museums within Australia and New Zealand, as well as the Museum of Contemporary Art, San Diego,
USA, the UCLA Hammer Museum, Los Angeles and the Dakis Joannou Foundation, Athens. Most recently,
Hany Armanious’s work was exhibited in The Melting Point of Reason curated by Mark Feary at the Margaret
Lawrence Gallery, University of Melbourne. Hany Armanious has been represented by Roslyn Oxley9 Gallery
since 2003.