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march 26 - april 12, 2008
by Mel McVeigh
“It is all so false, yet so tantalizing. It is not real, yet we easily imagine and desire it to be so. The success of these images lies in creating narratives that have a dual identity – that sit within the realm of commercial photography but also challenge the myths they create.”
Mel McVeigh.
This series of photographs explores people’s fascination with fame and the concept of the hyper-real against the real. Ready for conspicuous consumption, the world around us is re-packaged and presented anew: stylish, idealistic and fashionable.
The production aesthetics of advertising and fashion photography underscore the juxtaposition of the ordinary and the extraordinary. Open for inspection are the exploitation of the average Australian’s suburban existence, the “Australian Dream” of home ownership and more:
“I think there’s something within all of us that longs to be famous or at least aspires to live and act like celebrities”.
Mel McVeigh holds a Masters of Fine Arts (Photomedia) from Monash University and is a successful commercial photographer.
A Tale Untold
The ‘energetic’, ‘intuitive’ and ‘animated’ qualities of children inform these mixed media works. With aspirations to convey childhood imaginings, the artist begins by recording the activity of children as they go about creating their imaginary worlds.
Intuitive and immediate mark making as well as daily visual note taking, form the corner stone of a practice which materialises the abstract and often inaccessible world of child play.
The narrative in the work takes the viewer on a journey between the real and the imagined; childhood fantasy in the realm of the back yard.
Jacqueline Benny is a candidate in the Master of Arts program at the College of Fine Arts, University of New South Wales.
by Katie MilesBarnes
Repetitively approaching the body from multiple perspectives and informed by science, comparative religion and art history, these works aim to synthesize ideas and form.
Reconfiguring the body through the use of various processes of manipulation and augmentation, the results are highly fabricated imagery, indulgent in aesthetic excess. Abstract ideas and complex thoughts are processed through the physical act of making.
The visual result is a kaleidoscopic view of pattern and symmetry which only hints at the original source material.
Kate Miles-Barnes is an Honors candidate at the Victorian College of the Arts, Melbourne.
opening night drinks
thursday march 27
5 - 7 pm
exhibition duration: march 26 - april 12, 2008