work / THE MONOPOLY PROJECT 2012

The Monopoly Project

2nd June - 30th June

Tolarno Galleries

Melbourne

Essay by Francis E. Parker click here

Review - The Arts The Age, 30th June, 2012 click here

Review - Robyn Stuart, Das Platforms, June 2012 click here

My recent projects have as their common denominator an investigation into collected forms, patterns and structures appropriated from the real world. I am particularly drawn to seemingly ordinary or common abstract elements that surround us in our day to day existence. When these forms are taken out of context and re-presented back to the viewer they can often challenge perceptions and reveal a new way of interpreting the world around them. I always exhibit the collected reference forms in the exhibition as a kind of clue for the viewer, cultural artifacts that provide tangible evidence of my interaction within the landscape. Recently I have become interested in the way memory and nostalgia can be triggered or evoked through an experience with abstract form. ‘Melway Project’, ‘Disney Color Project’ and ‘Hume Highway Project’ have all centered around the emotional connections of memory that mark place and time. Of interest to me are those abstract forms that not only provoke memories of a personal experience, but also provide a shared connection to collective memory where we are all encouraged or invited to partake and claim ownership. ‘Monopoly Project’ continues this trajectory and further explores the notion of collective cultural recall. This latest series of 26 paintings use as reference, the entire set of title deeds from the board game Monopoly. The board game exhibited with the paintings is the one from my childhood, c1973. It shows the residue of hundreds of games played over many years. This visible history is layered in personal narrative. Just by looking at it I can easily recall past incidents while playing the game. Frosty mornings, warm toast, squabbles with siblings, cousins who stopped at nothing (including cheating) just to acquire the most coveted properties ‘Mayfair’ and ‘Park Lane’. The 26 paintings in this exhibition provide a platform for the viewer to share countless narratives as well as a myriad of other associations. This accumulation of memory and experience is not unique but shared amongst us all. The viewer is invited to enter in and become part of the whole experience of the ‘Monopoly Project’, to celebrate it, to complete it.