Your invitation to WAYS OF BEING

Please find attached your invitation to WAYS OF BEING, my solo exhibition at Stephen McLaughlan Gallery, Melbourne.

OPENING EVENT: 
Saturday December 7, from 2-4 pm

MID-EXHIBITION DRINKS: 
Saturday December 14, from 2-4 pm

EXTRA HOURS: 
In addition to its regular hours, the gallery will also be open on the following dates:
Sunday December 22 , from 1-5 pm
Monday December 23, from 1-5 pm
Sunday December 24, from 1-5 pm

WAYS OF BEING runs from December 4-24, 2024. I do hope you’ll have a chance to drop by.

Eye Candy

Pictured top: a recent studio view. The newly completed painting, Eye Candy, is on the worktable, and looming over it is a poster of the work that was its primary influence, Portrait of the Journalist Sylvia von Harden, 1926, by Otto Dix, one of my favourite paintings in the entire world. 

In 1993, I was awarded a three-month Australia Council studio residency at the Cité internationale des arts in Paris. I still recall the thrill of coming upon Dix’s original on my first visit to Centre Pompidou. Until then, I’d only ever seen it in reproduction.

Subsequently I purchased the poster from the gallery shop. Ordinarily I’m not one for souvenirs, but wanted to memorialise that indelible moment of discovery. When I unrolled the poster back in my studio at the Cité, however, I discovered a serious fault in the colour reproduction and had to return it the following day. I felt ridiculously proud that I was able to explain the situation in my less than basic Council of Adult Education French - although I guess the flaw was fairly self-explanatory. The poster was cheerfully exchanged for the one shown here and it has been with me ever since. 

The hairstyle in a vintage photographic portrait that I’d had on file for ages was the basis for my protagonist’s bobbed hair. Serendipitously, the woman in the photograph is Otto Dix’s wife, Martha Dix. It has been cropped from the original image, a double portrait of Martha and Otto Dix, 1925, by August Sander. You can see it HERE. 

The Dadaesque eyepiece in Eye Candy takes its cue from Sylvia von Harden’s iconic monocle.

Directly below: an earlier studio view with Eye Candy still a work in progress. 

Eye Candy, 2024, acrylic on canvas board, 30.5 x 30.5 cm will be part of WAYS OF BEING, my solo exhibition at Stephen McLaughlan Gallery, Melbourne, running from December 4-24.

For further information on WAYS OF BEING, scroll down to my previous post. 

Some dates to save

 

The busiest time of year is fast approaching and so is my solo exhibition, WAYS OF BEING. Opening drinks are on Saturday December 7 from 2-4 pm. I’ll be there, and hope you’ll join me.

Bearing in mind the multiple clashes of events that inevitably occur at this time of year, Stephen McLaughlan Gallery will also host mid-exhibition drinks on Saturday December 14 from 2-4 pm. Come join us and escape the pre-Christmas madness, meet the artist (me) and enjoy a civilised beverage in this gem of a gallery on the eighth floor of Melbourne’s historic heritage listed Nicholas Building. 

Do mark the dates in your diary. I’ll be delighted to see you on either day (or both); otherwise, I hope you’ll drop in during the exhibition’s run. 

WAYS OF BEING runs from Wednesday December 4 to Saturday December 24. Further details, including gallery hours, are on the above invitation.

Sunflower

Ways of Being, my solo exhibition at Stephen McLaughlan Gallery, Melbourne, opens in less than a month. It’s primarily a painting show, but will also comprise a small number of relief prints, including Sunflower, 2024, linocut, 15 x 10 cm, edition 40. (Pictured top).

The sunflower, so named because of its constant orientation towards the sun (which it closely resembles), is an enduring symbol of optimism, longevity and resilience. 

Coincidentally these are all character traits shared by our cat, Alice. In recent months she has diligently overseen the progress of most of my paintings and linocuts. My small upstairs studio adjoins a spacious room that does double duty as a home cinema and a second dining area. The large dining table, which also serves as an occasional workspace, is overlooked by a reverse cycle air conditioner. During winter I often speed up the drying process of my prints and paintings by placing them on the table where they get the full force of the heater - as well as Alice’s undivided attention. In the photo below she is pictured with the lino blocks from which Sunflower and A Snail’s Pace were printed.

Ways of Being runs from December 4-24 with an opening celebration on Saturday December 7 from 2-4 pm. 

Photo credit top image: Tim Gresham. 

Last works for WAYS OF BEING

“Blue and green should never be seen”, or so the saying goes. Nevertheless, these are the final two works completed for Ways of Being, my upcoming solo exhibition at Stephen McLaughlan Gallery in Melbourne. On the worktable, L-R are Horned Poppy and A Book by its Cover, both 2024, acrylic on canvas board, 30.5 x 30.5 cm. The origins of the tattoo iconography will be discussed in a future post.

Shortly after this photo was taken, the paintings were documented by our long-term photographer, Tim Gresham, before delivery to the superlative framers at Creative Framing Gallery in Ballarat. It’s hard to believe the end is in sight, especially as I expected to be working right up to the finish line with this show. 

For those who have been kind enough to ask in advance for dates, the exhibition will be Stephen McLaughlan Gallery’s last cab off the rank for 2025, running from December 4-24, with an opening event on Saturday December 7 from 2-4 pm. 

Further details are below. It’s a notoriously busy time of year, so do note the dates in your diary. 

Images 1-6 below: sequential progress views of Horned Poppy.

Images 1-5 below: sequential progress views of A Book by its Cover