Join award-winning artist, Louis Pratt, as he takes you through his process, combining science and technology with his artistic practice to create anamorphic and catoptric works such as a Very Dutch Ghost.
Using the latest computing tools and technology, Louis Pratt’s holographic skull draws from centuries of art history, referencing Hans Holbein’s painting The ambassadors 1533 and Vincent van Gogh’s Head of a skeleton with a burning cigarette 1886. It also recalls the 17th-century Dutch tradition of vanitas still-life painting, which used symbolic objects to remind the viewer of their mortality.
The work took more than two years to realise. For its creation, Pratt developed software, in collaboration with Australian academic Dr Nico Pietroni, which calculates the trajectory of light as it bends through curved reflective surfaces and transparent media.
Other works include his new Modern Gods and Philosophers series, and Wynne Prize finalist work, Whatever, which “examines the near future in a world that is digitised and mapped. It is a sculpture of a disenfranchised youth living in a cyber world, his existence depending on technology. As constant users of cyberspace we enjoy its benefits – but do we understand its negative aspects?
Event Information
Date: Monday 6 October 2025
Time: 12:30pm – 1:30pm
Where: Grainger Gallery
Tickets: This talk is a free event.
Commonwealth Park
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