Melbourne Art Fair Vernissage

 My work installed at the Melbourne Art Fair, Jan Murphy Gallery Stand C44

Carlton Exhibition Buildings, August 1, 2012

Ben Quilty's Paintings at Jan Murphy's stand

Rhys Lee with his work

Jan Murphy

 with Rhys Lee and Juan Ford

Rhys Lee and Lisa Gorman

 

with Jane Burton

A closer installation shot

Melbourne Art Fair

I produced a large body of work this year to be exhibited at the Melbourne Art Fair with Jan Murphy Gallery. Here are some images of the paintings I produced - the entire collection can be viewed on my website. This body of work explores notions of therapy, fractured identity and the unconscious.

These are two seperate paintings but I had intended them as a kind of pair. The whole body of work was to be hung in a cluster (salon style) so I tried to create connections between the works that could be picked up by the eye when glancing over the entire wall.

 A moment of clarity

 Cut

Superstition

In this body of work I explored collage for the first time as a reference point for my paintings. I worked with a variety of images and cut and pasted various photographs to come up with the final images for the paintings. I became interested in crystals as an extension of my investigations into notions of therapy. The crystals reference New Age therapy whilst also creating a kind of Sci-Fi element within the work.

'

The Complexes

In my exploration of notions of therapy I was particularly interested in women and psychoanalysis and the works of Sigmund Freud.

"A complex is a core pattern of emotions, memories, perceptions, and wishes in the personal unconscious organized around a common theme, such as power or status (Schultz, D. & Schultz, S., 2009). Primarily a psychoanalytic term, it is found extensively in the works of Carl Jung and Sigmund Freud."

 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Complex_%28psychology%29

 

Silent Running

Title taken from the 1971 science fiction film.

 Healer #1 and #2

Therapy

Tarantula

Une Vague de Reves

This is a french title which translates to 'A wave of Dreams' which relates to Freud's and book 'The Interpretation of dreams'

Narrative Spaces

Narrative Spaces was an exhibition curated by Sarah Parker for the Villa Alba Museum in Kew. I was pleased to be invited to be part of this truly unique exhibition in the most incredible grand old mansion in Melbourne.

"Villa Alba was built between 1882 and 1884 during the Marvellous Melbourne boom era. The house was decorated with ornate murals and stencils that covered the walls and ceilings of each room. Originally owned by William Greenlaw, the General Manager of the Colonial Bank of Australasia from 1877 to 1892, the house was eventually sold following the deaths of both Greenlaw and his wife. In 1950 it was converted into a nurses’ hostel and the murals were painted over. It is only in the last 25 years that the historic significance of the house and its valuable heritage has been recognized. During this time, a team of conservationists have been painstakingly removing the surface paint to reveal the original frescoes below.''

My work in the master bedroom. 

The sign on the door is from the time that the building was a nursing home

 Artwork by Isobel parker Phillip 

Narrative Spaces

25th - 27th May 2012

The Villa Alba Museum

44 Walmer Street Kew

Exhibiting artists:

Sarah Parker // Peter Lyssiotis // Sodacake // Niko Spelbrink // Tobias Richardson // Marius Foley // Heidi Yardley // Laurene Vaughan // Patrick Snelling // Stephen Philip // Jillian Allan // Simon Mee // Isobel Parker Philip // Daryl Prondoso // Bronwyn Brenton // Del Lumanta // Irit Pollak // The Fem Belling Trio

SWANS cover art

I was thrilled when Michael Gira of the legendary band Swans asked if he could use images of my artwork for the cover of their live album 'We rose from your bed with the sun in our heads' which was released in May this year through Young God Records. Michael chose five paintings from my exhibition 'Her Kind'. The album is a double CD deluxe digipack and has been beautifully designed and packaged.

For more information about this album click HERE

Front cover

Back cover

The package that arrived from Michael Gira including copies of the CD (one signed for me) and his limited edition book 'Eight Stories'

Inside cover

Things that go bump in the night

I was part of this fantastic exhibition curated by David O'Halloran back in May/June this year. The exhibition included artists working in a variety of media including video, photography, painting, installation and performance and coincided with 'Nocturnal', a yearly program of night walks in the city of Dandenong.

Installation by Edward Colless

Me with some of my paintings

Ben Yardley and Fabrice Bigot in front of Fab's video work

amazing performance by Yumi Umiumare

31st May - 30th June 2012

Walker Street Gallery

Cnr Walker and Robinson Streets Dandenong

Works by Fabrice Bigot, Jane Burton, Jon Cattapan, Edward Colless, Matt Coyle, Irene Hanenbergh, Kotoe Ishii, Georgia Metaxas, Stephanie Monteith, Mia Saljso and Heidi Yardley.

catching up

Well, it seems another year has flown by and I haven't had time to update this blog. So, I will now attempt to create posts to cover the missing entries for this year and see if I can make time next year to keep this thing up to date!