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Ken Raff: The Stage

Two large green wooden structures with details of books, pillows and birds. A blurry person is visible in the background.

Ken Raff
The Stage, Murray Art Museum Albury, 2021
Image Jeremy Weihrauch

The Stage presents an artist’s life as one of working with and against structures, moving through the familiar spaces that are occupied in a lifetime. In the exhibition space, these habitats became the home for an artist who is now unseen, having shifted from being an actor on these sets to a director who enabled an audience’s encounter with the work.

Three distinct yet related scenes were presented, each represented various aspects of a developing life – from infancy, through to the complexity of adulthood, and later years of contemplation.

A fourth tableau, in a separate room, presented an undefined environment, neither a moment in time nor a specific place. It was a site of imagination where unseen forces became realised. With The Stage, Raff distilled the preoccupations of his five decade exhibition practice and the ambition of his public works to produce a body of work that filled the museum’s galleries.

The Stage was a psychologically charged space that invited audiences into a realm of personal reflection for the artist and an experiential site of discovery for audiences.

About the Artist
Albury Wodonga artist Ken Raff has sustained his working practice for 50 years. In that time, he has staged single artist presentations across regional Victoria and New South Wales, throughout the local Border region, in Melbourne, and participated in numerous group exhibitions. Alongside this gallery practice, he has maintained a prolific output of public artworks in that time, placing him as one of our region’s most prominent artists.

A white room with a brown leather recliner and a black tentacle rising from carpet in the middle of the room.
Ken Raff

The Stage, Murray Art Museum Albury, 2021
Photo Jeremy Weihrauch

A piece of copper with black material visible in rips between the metal. In the centre of the work the word "WHEN" is visible
Ken Raff

The Stage, Murray Art Museum Albury, 2021
Photo Jeremy Weihrauch

A green wooden structure on a tilt with colourful pillows and a nest placed in the middle.
Ken Raff

The Stage, Murray Art Museum Albury, 2021
Photo Jeremy Weihrauch

A black raven looking down on a green wooden beam that is jutting out of a wooden structure with books.
Ken Raff

The Stage, Murray Art Museum Albury, 2021
Photo Jeremy Weihrauch

Three large wooden structures each of different sizes and a bird attached to each one. Each structure discusses a different moment in the artist's life.
Ken Raff

The Stage, Murray Art Museum Albury, 2021
Photo Jeremy Weihrauch

Exhibitions