Overview
With the ape as her muse, Melbourne-based Lisa Roet encourages us to reflect upon prevailing attitudes towards these relatives with whom we share in excess of 98% of our DNA, the lingering anxiety with our evolutionary past, our use of apes for scientific and entertainment purposes and the way in which we project onto apes our own fantasies and culture, while at the same time assuming they are somehow ‘inferior’ to us.

b. 1967, Australia
Lives in Melbourne, Australia

Melbourne-based Lisa Roet has developed a highly acclaimed international career. Her artistic practice, based primarily in sculpture, has engaged in an in-depth exploration of primates and human relationships to them. With the ape as her muse, Roet encourages us to reflect upon prevailing attitudes towards these relatives with whom we share in excess of 98% of our DNA. She draws attention to the lingering anxiety of our evolutionary past, our use of apes for scientific and entertainment purposes, and the way in which we project onto apes our own fantasies and culture, all the while assuming they are somehow ‘inferior’ to us.

Roet’s explorations into the psychology, behaviour, and soul of simian-human relations have won her numerous art awards, including the prestigious Geelong Gallery Acquisitive Print Award (2013), Deakin University Small Sculpture Award (2012), Fremantle Print Award (2011), McClelland Gallery and Sculpture Park Sculpture Survey & Award (2005), Australian National Gallery National Sculpture Prize (2003).

Since her first show at Querhause Gallery, Berlin in 1992, Lisa has been represented by galleries in Australasia, Belgium and the USA. She has held over twenty-five solo exhibitions and has participated in more than fifty group exhibitions both internationally and within Australia. Highlights include Monkey Grip, Deakin University Art Gallery, Melbourne, which toured various regional galleries throughout Victoria, Australia (2013-14), When I laugh, He laughs with me, Karen Woodbury Gallery, Melbourne, Australia (2014), Chengdu Biennale, China, (2013), McClelland Sculpture Survey & Award, McClelland Gallery + Sculpture Park, Mornington Peninsula, Australia (2014, 2005 & 2003), Den Hagg Sculptuur 2007, The Hague, The Netherlands (2007), Satellite Project (12 Australian Artists), Shanghai Biennale, China (2006), Kiss of the Beast, Queensland Art Gallery, Brisbane, Australia (2005), Lisa Roet: Finger of Suspicion, McClelland Gallery and Sculpture Park, Melbourne, Australia (2004).

Roet has also featured several times in the publication titled Australian Art Collector’s ‘50 Most Collectible Artists’ (2001, 2003 and 2007). She is the subject of a comprehensive monograph by Alexie Glass, titled Lisa Roet: Uncommon Observations that was published by Thames and Hudson in 2004. Lisa was the feature of an Australian Broadcasting Corporation documentary titled APELADY, which was produced by Klaus Toft in 2010.

Roet’s first solo exhibition with Gow Langsford Gallery was in 2011 and the Gallery has represented her since 2015.

Works
Exhibitions
Video
News
Art Fairs
Enquire

Send me more information on Lisa Roet

Please fill in the fields marked with an asterisk
Receive newsletters *

* denotes required fields

In order to respond to your enquiry, we will process the personal data you have supplied to communicate with you in accordance with our Privacy Policy. You can unsubscribe or change your preferences at any time by clicking the link in our emails.