In Ross Manning’s (b.1978) practice, sound and light play a key role. During his formative years, the parallel experience of working as a television repairer and an experimental electronic musician informed his aesthetic development. Eventually the two pursuits merged. He began to create instruments out of the old televisions, VCRs and computers from his workplace. This lead to explorations into kinetic sculpture, which Manning initially created specifically for their sound component. From his research into soundwaves came an interest in light waves, which was also informed by his later experience as an audiovisual technician. Whilst his work addresses science and technology, it also references the legacy of minimalism, sound art and expanded cinema.
In Trace, Manning’s work Reflection Study is a work that has been pared right back. It has been said that Manning seems ‘to unlock a hidden beauty from ordinary objects’. And this is the case in Reflection Study. It consists of the simple play of reflected light from a horizontal mirror and the partial and overlapping shadows that ensue. It is a fully ambient work, entirely made by the changing light around it.
In 2017, the Institute of Modern Art presented a survey exhibition of Manning’s work, which toured to ten venues across Australia between 2018-20. His work has been included in the 2016 Shanghai Biennale and the 2014 Biennale of Sydney. Manning has received major commissions from the Institute of Modern Art (2015), Len Lye Centre | Govett-Brewster Gallery (New Zealand, 2016), and the Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art (Seoul, South Korea, 2016).
Manning has completed public commissions for Northern Gold Coast Sports & Community Precinct, Centre for Children's Health Research, Lady Cilento Children's Hospital, Brisbane, Vibrant Laneways, Brisbane City Council.
Manning’s work is in the following collections: Museum of Transitory Art, Solvenia, University of New South Wales, Queensland Art Gallery/Gallery of Modern Art, National Gallery of Australia, Artbank Sydney, Museum of Contemporary Art, Museum of Old and New Art Hobart, University of Queensland Art Museum, Monash University Museum of Art, Chartwell Collection, Auckland Art Gallery, The Australian Synchrotron, Lady Cilento Children’s Hospital.
