Bundanon

Ray Monde is a contemporary paper artist working primarily with paper-mâché and collage.

Using a technique called ghostworking, he over-paints magazine pages with thin glazes of paint so the texture and images of the magazines ghost through the paint, adding depth and complexity to his work.

Ray completed a Bachelor of Arts in 1993 and later studied at the National Arts School, Sydney in 2012. After a successful career in advertising in Sydney, London and New York, he returned to his fascination with paper.

In 2022, Monde had his first major solo exhibition in a public gallery which brought to the fore the artist’s personal experience of queerness in regional Australia.

Ray is a twice finalist in the Blake Prize, Moran Portrait Prize and the National Works on Paper Prize. He has exhibited widely and his works are in collections in Australia and internationally.

In Residence at Bundanon

The Residency is an opportunity for me to test the limits of what is possible with papier-mâché, creating towering papier-mâché vessels, reminiscent of the war memorials that dot country towns across Australia, and collaging them with images of critically endangered species of Australia.

Through the impermanence of paper, I’ll demonstrate the fragility nature of the Australian environment and how human-induced climate change is exacerbating the destruction of Australian plant and animal species.

Through my residency I hope to help us reconsider our consumption and consider new ways to reuse and repurpose our waste – using a beautiful sculptural form to hide a dark heart of destruction.