TONY WOODS: PERPETUAL MOTION

OPENING SUNDAY 19 OCTOBER, 1PM

5 BEDFORD ST, COLLINGWOOD, 3066

Over Tony Woods’ 6 decades of practice, he never appeared to pause for long on one conceptual or stylistic focus. His work is characterised, instead, by his lifetime of consistent and prolific production, and an unquenchable drive to observe the world’s minute shifts, its quiet beauties, and the small wonders that surrounded him. An artist whose formative identity was fostered by the heady art worlds of 1960s Australia and New York, Woods worked and lived amongst some of the most successful artists of his generation, and was both influenced and influencer. Recurring and returning motifs, and a multi-dimensional sphere of influence are key elements of the work he produced.

Perpetual Motion is a theoretical machine, one that is powered, in perpetuity, by its own force. Tony Woods’ practice was, during his life, and continues to be, a generative machine – one whose input is equal to its output. The consistent return of ideas and images is the machines engine. These prevailing themes include bands of light resting over undefined forms, geometric contructs and the body - defined not so much by its own form but by the light that falls on it, the eyes that observe it, and the movement it makes. Woods’ work was always concerned with flow and change. Uninterested in freezing a moment in time, he employed mirrors, super 8 cameras, life drawing and layered imagery, to offer a chance to see through his eyes – to observe his observations, to see yourself seeing him seeing you. Tony Woods’ practice is like a house of mirrors – each work is perpetually both an origin and end point, generously inviting viewers in, but a practice this is so far reaching it is ultimately ungraspable in its entirety.

- Brigit Ryan, October 2025

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