Rowan E Cassidy work draws on a background in both fine art and film. He studied at the National Art School in Sydney and later pursued communication design at James Cook University. After more than fifteen years working in feature film in Australia and Los Angeles, Cassidy returned to his roots in the visual arts, bringing a cinematic eye and a layered narrative sensibility to his practice.
Now based in Montenegro, his current work explores the metaphysical space between the visible and the invisible, creating friction between seduction and repulsion, astonishment and dread, dream and nightmare, delicacy and brutality. There is in all his works an aesthetic of dissonance that translates into images that are both intense and vulnerable, with a twilight beauty. His work displays an irreducible fascination with the hidden world of the occult which emerges in a sometimes Manichean world view describing the struggle between a spiritual world of light and a lesser, material world of darkness. His works are held in collections in the US, Japan, Europe and Australia.
Education
Newcastle High school, Newcastle NSW.
University of Newcastle NSW – Bachelor of Fine Arts 1995
National Art School, Sydney – Diploma of Fine Arts 1999
James Cook University, Townsville
Bachelor of Communication Design Publications 2019
Exhibitions/ Awards
Two and Three-unit art prizes. Newcastle High school, Newcastle NSW, 1992
Both Sides Now - Solo exhibition, Kick collective, Cairns QLD, 1999
New Works - Solo exhibition, Kick collective, Cairns QLD, 2000
Emoticon - Solo exhibition, Ultimo collective arts, Sydney NSW, 2012
La Bas - Solo exhibition. Deus Temple Canngu, Bali, 2022
Darkness Visible - Solo exhibition, Titik Dua, Mas, Ubud, Bali. 2022
Glossolia - NotFair Group Exhibition, Melbourne, 2023
Alchemy - NotFair Group Exhibition, Melbourne, 2023
Winner of The Lennox award, 2023
Grimoire - Solo exhibition, Lennox Gallery Melbourne, 2024
Published Works
HEKATAEON, Jack Grayle. Ixaxaar Publishing, 2020
Dancing Sorcerer, P.T. Misselberger. Anathema Publishing, 2020
Pillars - Seeds of Ares, Periodical, Anathema Publishing, 2021
THE HEKATAEON (Cassidy Edition), Grayle Press, 2021
Witchcraft , The Library of Esoterica, Taschen, 2022
The Red Shepherd, Anathema Publishing, 2023
Typhonic Rites, Poetry by Harper Feist, Myskatonic Press, 2024
Trutmezzer, Frater Acher, Three Hands Press, 2024
Sigrund and the Mist, Grayle press, 2024