17:00 Studies

Anomaly

4:25am

Petrichor

10:00am

Take me to the Ocean, Live Painted Scene, 2019

Artist statement

Travis Van Zanen, a Melbourne born virtual reality artist known by the name "Giant Swan" has been creating alternate realities at the cutting edge of a new medium.

Giant Swan's work has progressed alongside VR creative tools to control digital art using his recorded full-body movement to create with. Borrowing from mediums before in painting, sculpture, and animation the outcome of this craft can be experienced via multiple avenues of new media and is constantly being explored and shared. 

Born in 87 and a desk slave by profession, it wasn't until 2017 that Giant Swan was identified as a leader in his emerging field, His work featured as an hour-long timelapse behind The Smith Street Bands set at Falls Festival that year where multiple collaborators would then encourage Swan to pursue his obvious callings. He would quickly claim a residency at Chantilly Studio's in the Nicholas Building to further fortify the studio's reputation as the home for Melbourne's growing VR scene. Then following this his collaborations with musicians "Doctor Guava" and multiple Lo-FI and Hip-Hop Producers Swan continues to push his craft via revealing new works in the digital landscape that explore colourful, wonderous and ambient worlds populated with somber and thoughtful moments that encourage patrons to experience the moments themselves as an active presence in the scenes.

Giant Swan's artistic Influences are wide and varied, building from a life growing up in state parks and imagination born of pop culture and video games mixed with an even wider thirst for the music from Melbourne's punk and hip hop scenes. Traces of Swan's attachment to the energy and vibrancy of these influences come together with his love for a creating surreal escapes.

In December 2019, Giant Swan's first exhibited entry to the greater art community was in Shanghai as part of the Greenbank Art festival at the Modern Art Museum. The installation included a recreation of his studio space and multiple entries of his virtual worlds.

He was also featured at 2019's Art Basel Miami as part of the Art x Tech show showcasing parts of his 00:00 series, a group of expressive sculptures within digital Imagery.

Giant Swan is currently working on the largely anticipated Petrichor, expected to show in early 2020 it promises to be an emotional installation bringing the Daintree Rainforest and its complexities to the public with even more immersive advancements for audiences to experience both the unique landscape of the worlds oldest forest and it's current state in today's climate, Directed by Ben Andrews and Emma Roberts.