work / PAINTING AND DRAWING 2011

Painting and Drawing

21 Sept - 16th Oct 2011

Greenaway Art Gallery, Adelaide

‘Painting and Drawing’ follows on from an earlier exhibition this year at Martin Browne Fine Art in Sydney and could be seen as part two of one body of work. The paintings from both exhibitions reference a diverse group of found forms I have collected over the past 2 years. Often, when I am preparing for an exhibition, I will collect or photograph a whole range of reference material that documents my interaction within the urban landscape, generally within walking distance of my studio in Brunswick - paper forms off the street, road signage, product packaging from the local supermarket, book and record covers and at the moment I am particularly interested in pharmaceutical packaging – prosaic things that may be perceived as almost invisible. Over the years I have amassed an enormous bank of material. I am then able to sift through this archive at later dates, selecting out particular groups or families of forms. Painting and Drawing is an intimate show with only six paintings along with their corresponding studies. The reference forms are exhibited along with the paintings, inviting the viewer into my world, to share in the experience of things seen/collected. The reference forms mark a clear distinction between what is abstract and what is not, I am working between the lines of abstraction and representation, what I refer to as readymade abstraction. It’s important to me that the viewer understands that these forms are coming from the real world and that the paintings are essentially a record of things seen and experienced.