Born in Bombay, India, Rhett D’Costa migrated to Australia at an early age. His pan-disciplinary practice draws on his Asian/Australian hybrid background and extends from the evocative use of colour to complex expressions of identity and belonging. His recent work engages experientially with the Dja Dja Wurrung lands where he currently lives.

In a career spanning thirty years in art practice and tertiary art education, his particular focus has centred around the Asia-Pacific region. He has exhibited widely, and his work is represented in public and private collections. He is currently an Honorary University Fellow with RMIT University.

Stockroom Kyneton, Gallery Two
03 December 2022 / 22 January 2023

RHETT D’COSTA
Veiled Pleasures

The exhibition, Veiled Pleasures, draws inspiration from engagement with diverse cultures, rejoicing in the ways in which light, space, atmosphere, and colour can build situated narratives.

The paintings explore architectural space, colour, and forms by referring to my lived and visual experiences of Moghul and Rajput painting and architecture during many trips to India. Using the garden as a point of departure, the paintings consider the richness and complexities of palace and court life, particularly the veiled pleasures and sensuality alluded to in Indian miniature paintings and Moghul architecture which so often utilises screens and passageways to delineate and connect private and public spaces and social interactions and engagements.

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Stockroom Kyneton, Gallery One
08 June / 07 July 2019

RHETT D’COSTA
Ideas of Home

The premise for this exhibition, Ideas of Home grew from an early encounter D'Costa experienced with Indian miniature painting the first time he went back to India, almost 33 years ago and 15 years after his family immigrated to Australia. During this trip, D'Costa became enamoured by the colour combinations and the pictorial spaces of Indian court paintings. These memories have informed Ideas of Home and D'Costa's relationship to place, home and belonging. Oscillating between India – his ancestral place of birth, and Australia, his adopted homeland, this exhibition explores D'Costa's circumstances of living in the world, as past experience, present engagement and future evolving deliberations.

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Stockroom Kyneton, Gallery One
13 April / 05 May 2013

RHETT D’ COSTA
Shimmering Spaces: Exhibition 2

Exhibition 2 is consisting of 4 projects as part of the three exhibitions titled; Shimmering Spaces. The artworks include Bespoke, a large-format photograph as the displaced artist dressed as the quintessential English gentleman. A video work titled A.E.I.O.U. exploring issuing relating to language and expectations. Two objects including an artwork titled, Rumour, which is a dazzling stick slowly rotating in a bed of flour (atta). The artworks are part of Rhett d’ Costa’s PhD studies and examine issues relating to national cultural identity, specifically in the context of his dual Anglo-Indian ethnicity. Each of the artworks employs a range of strategies including humour and irony to consider issues of authenticity and belonging.

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