Flashback Friday

In anticipation of the renowned Ballarat Begonia Festival  this coming long weekend: a flashback to Begonia Virus 2, 2020, acrylic on canvas board, 10 x 10 cm, private collection). 

The photo directly below was taken at the 2020 Ballarat Begonia Festival, which was, as always, a spectacular affair.

Begonia Virus 2 was made in the relatively early, still uncertain months of the Corona Virus. (I never could resist a play on words). It is one of two paintings created for the first annual One Hundred Faces exhibition at Playing in the Attic, then located in Ballarat, now thriving and blooming in nearby Talbot.

Who knew that this and its sister work, Begonia Virus 1 (2020, private collection), not to mention those made for subsequent iterations of One Hundred Faces, would be precursors to my current work?

ONE HUNDRED FACES

HEADS UP

A bright spot in the continuing catastrophe of Covid, the eagerly-anticipated group exhibition One Hundred Faces opens this week. 

The venue:

Playing In The Attic

119a Sturt Street

Ballarat 3350

(By the entrance of the Ballarat Mechanics Institute).

Curated by Playing in the Attic proprietor Trudy McLaughlan, the installation comprises one hundred 10 x 10 cm mini-portraits, all of them created by Ballarat artists. I have two works in the show, Begonia Virus #1 and Begonia Virus #2, pictured above, top.

Sadly, due to newly-tightened Covid restrictions, the opening event scheduled for next Saturday, June 27, has been cancelled. 

Happily, the installation will be displayed in the front window of Playing in the Attic and can be viewed 24/7 from tomorrow and throughout the exhibition’s official run.

One Hundred Faces is part of the Ballarat Winter Festival. 

The exhibition runs from June 27 – July 19.

For further information, scroll down to my Blog Post of 24 May, or access it here:

http://deborahklein.blogspot.com/2020/05/begonia-virus-1-and-2.html

Begonia Virus #1 and #2

Begonia Virus #1, 2020, acrylic on canvas board, 10 x 10 cm

Begonia Virus #2, 2020, acrylic on canvas board, 10 x 10 cm

Begonia Virus #1 and Begonia Virus #2, pictured above, are part of ONE HUNDRED FACES, an upcoming installation of 100 paintings created by Ballarat-based artists on 10 x 10 cm canvas boards. The collected works will be displayed in a 10 x 10 grid in the front window of Playing in the Attic in Sturt Street, one of Ballarat’s liveliest thoroughfares.

Photographs I took in March 2020 at Ballarat’s renowned Begonia Festival served as visual references for my two paintings. I really enjoyed working on this pair and would have liked to add to them, had time permitted. It’s something I might well consider in the future. 

The works reflect on the interconnectedness of humans and nature and their titles are a playful riff on the relative similarity of the words Begonia and Corona. In the course of some rudimentary investigations, I discovered that there really is a Begonia Virus - and quarantine is one of the recommended means of controlling it!

ONE HUNDRED FACES is presented in conjunction with the 2020 Ballarat Winter Festival, which runs from 27 June - 12 July. 

Playing in the Attic
119a Sturt Street
Ballarat Vic 3350 
Phone: 0428 580 30

Hours: Wed - Sat 10 - 4. Safety measures are firmly in place.

The installation can be viewed outside of business hours, as it will face directly onto the street. Stepping inside this delightful little store is also highly recommended - and not just because it stocks a range of my books and zines! Despite the gradual easing of restrictions in recent days, it is advised to double-check opening times.

Views of Begonia Virus #1 and Begonia Virus #2 in earlier stages of development are directly below.