Arlo Mountford works primarily with large-scale interactive installations that integrate sound, video and animation. His digitally animated films feature a dizzying assortment of famous artists, iconic artworks and events from the history of art mixed with an almost equally generous array of pop culture references. Infused with humour and irony, Mountford’s work re-navigates art history, and explores the contextual relationship between contemporary art practice and its perceived past.
Select solo exhibitions: Revolutions, Assembly Point, Melbourne, 2024; The Folly, The Triumph & The Lament, Western Plains Cultural Centre, Perth; Obscured by Clouds, Sutton Gallery, Melbourne, 2021; Playing the Fool, MADA Gallery, Monash University, Melbourne 2020; Deep Revolt, Shepparton Art Museum, Shepparton, 2019; Deep Revolt, Goulburn Regional Art Gallery, Goulburn, 2018; Out of Time, Sutton Gallery, Melbourne, 2018; 100 Years, Sutton Gallery, Melbourne, 2016; Galaxy Express, Sutton Gallery, Melbourne, 2014; The Copse, Sutton Project Space, Melbourne, 2013; The Vanishing Point of History, La Trobe University Museum of Art, Melbourne, 2011; Animated Video Art, Shepparton Art Museum, Shepparton, 2010; The Hacienda must be Built, The Art Centre, Chulalongkorn University, Bangkok, 2009; Universal Language – alternate reality, Centre for Contemporary Photography, Melbourne, 2005; Museum Divides and Confused Encounters, Gertrude Contemporary, Melbourne, 2004.
Select group exhibitions: XXX: Celebrating 30 Years of Sutton Gallery, Sutton Gallery, Melbourne, 2022; The Magic Artists: Australian Animation from the 1970s, QAGOMA, Brisbane, 2021; Design and Play, RMIT Design Hub, Melbourne, 2016; Sub 12, TheSubstation, Newport, 2014; Melbourne Now, National Gallery of Victoria, Melbourne, 2013; Forever Young: 30 Years of the Heide Collection, Heide Museum of Modern Art, Melbourne, 2012; Panarama, Casula Powerhouse, Casula, 2012; New Acquisitions in Context, Museum of Contemporary Art, Sydney, 2011; 21st Century: Art in the First Decade, QAGOMA, Brisbane, 2011; NEW010, Australian Centre of Contemporary Art, Melbourne, 2010; Change, MUMA, Melbourne, 2010.
In the conflation of imagery of all kinds, his work indicates the proliferation and shifts of meaning of the visual in a post-internet existence.
Zara Stanhope, 2014