Stillness

COLLAGES

Aquila Kegan

Stillness © Aquila Kegan

EXHIBITIONS

1981 One-woman exhibition in Blackheath, London
1982 Exhibits at the Salon d'Automne, Paris
1983 One-woman exhibition at the Qantas Gallery, London
1984 Interviewed on TV Suisse Romande
1985 Work accepted for the Summer exhibition, Royal Academy of Arts, London
1985 Nov Collective exhibition at Barzacchi's Ideas and Design Gallery, Paris
1985 Dec Work donated to exhibition "Aid to Ethiopia" at Barzacchi's Ideas and Design Gallery, Paris
1986 Summer collective exhibition at Galerie Black, Lausanne
1986 Summer collective exhibition at Galerie de Luxembourg, Luxembourg
1987 Feb One-woman exhibition at Galerie Florimont, Lausanne
1987 Mar One-woman exhibition at Munsterberg Galerie, Basel
1987 Jun Three-women exhibition at Galerie du Capricorne, Vevey
1988 Apr Collective exhibition at Trading Places, Ware, England
1989 Oct One-woman exhibition at Galerie Motte, Geneva
1989 Dec One-woman exhibition at Galerie Florimont, Lausanne
1990 May One-woman exhibition at the Swiss Centre, London
1990 Oct One-woman exhibition at the GMBK Gallery, Berne
1991 Collective exhibition at the October Gallery, London
1995 Collective exhibition at Coutances, Normandy, France

The Way of the Shield © Aquila Kegan

COLLECTIONS

Nestlé Art Foundation, Switzerland Sandoz, Switzerland Collège de Pully, Lausanne, Switzerland Private

Source
Source © Aquila Kegan

ARTIST'S PROFILE

Aquila Kegan was born in Switzerland as Danièle Bugnon. She studied at the School of Fine Arts in Lausanne under Jaques Berger. Later she worked for Edita, a Swiss art publishing house, and then obtained a position as assistant to the Swiss psychiatrist Oscar Forel who was preparing his collection of synchromies and his memoirs for publication. In 1972, she moved to Australia in search of the vast and beautiful open lands of that country.

The beauty and ruggedness that she found in Australia with its freshness and freedom contrasted with the confinement that she had felt in Switzerland. This need for new and varied ideas and interests led her to aboriginal art both as a student and a collector. For seven years the stimulus of the country provided an additional background that would be reflected in her work. Then circumstances dictated a move back to Europe.

Settling in 1979 in north London and employed by the publishing house Time-Life, her output of work continued and was exhibited first at the Bakehouse Gallery in London then at the Salon d'Automne in Paris. Further exhibitions followed in London and Paris and were accompanied by a rapidly growing acknowledgement of her work in various European media. In 1985, her work was accepted for the Summer Exhibition at the Royal Academy in London. She was also invited along with other artists to donate a work in aid of the Ethiopian Children at an exhibition mounted by Barzacchi's Ideas Galerie d'Art in Paris. Private commissions have been carried out including two works for Amouage, an expensive, exclusive, luxury perfume in silver and gold containers produced in the Sultanate of Oman and a forerunner of the "designer perfumes" that have now appeared created by Salvador Dali and others. In 1986, further exhibitions have been held in Luxembourg, at the Galerie Black in Lausanne and in Cambridge. In 1987, 1988, 1989 and 1990 further exhibitions were held in various galleries in Switzerland.

Aquila Kegan's work may be based on an idea, a thought or a situation but there is no preconceived vision of the final picture. The picture can take her from a few days to months to complete and although related to size depends almost entirely on her ability to squeeze out the underlying thoughts that prevail in her subconscious. The pictures represent answers in her continual quest to understand the emotional, spiritual, psychic and physical facets of the individual. Her pictures represent an insight into the inner being. They do not purport to provide the answers but each picture indicates another aspect of what must be examined. That in itself may be the answer.

PERSONAL STATEMENT

My collages spring from the well of my being and are my spirit's songs. They are never preconceived although I will focus on a theme, an emotion, a dream - and images, symbols will appear on the board.

I use glossy paper which I cut up into various sizes and shapes. I then create compositions, at times quite intricate, which I carefully assemble to appear as a unified whole.

These pieces represent in a fashion the way our mind (conscious, subconscious, unconscious, superconscious) works.

I believe that our world is entering a new age which seeks to understand the way we create our own reality and experience. My collages are part of this process. Each one is an attempt to stretch one's awareness, to stir one's psyche even though my work can be perceived in different ways: either as pleasant pictures, as intriguing symbolic messages and associations or as a pointer to a more challenging view of our own inner world.

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For further details and information send an email to Aquila Kegan