Exhibition cost:                    Free

Opening Friday 30 July, FireWorks Gallery presents two new exhibitions from two stylistically different Queensland artists- Paul Bong and Yvonne Mills-Stanley. In the ground floor gallery, Paul Bong, an Indigenous printmaker from Far North Queensland will showcase 25 new intaglio etching prints in Error of Parallax. Upstairs, Mt Glorious based artist Yvonne Mills-Stanley, who has been painting for 50 years, has her eighth solo exhibition at FireWorks, Days Like This, with 18 new oil paintings.

In Error of Parallax, Paul explores themes of ‘two lines of sight’ and highlights the resultant divergence of cultural perspectives amidst frontier conflicts, particularly in his Far North Qld homeland. His images of dispersed objects are like fractured mirrors. The layers are revealed in a frenzy of collaged elements moving through passages of time. This imagery includes glimpses of early colonial regalia, and weaponry, meshed with fragmented shields and artefacts - elements of a conflict that for the artist is still present (Images 1 & 2). One such motif that Paul uses is Captain Cook. He comments, “Captain Cook’s arrival in 1770 wasn’t so bad, it was the mob that came afterwards that caused the problem!” (Image 3).

Yvonne’s oil paintings, in contrast to Paul’s highly political prints, are calming and tranquil. For Yvonne there is always splendour in the grass! This profound subject matter has sustained so many interpretations by the artist, within both the macro and micro of the Australian landscape. Yvonne explains, “Many of the paintings in this exhibition come from taking trips down from my mountain home and along the road that stretches from Wivenhoe to Somerset. There are days when we can appreciate and enjoy the good times. Days when all the parts of the puzzle start to look like they fit” (Images 4 - 6).

FireWorks Gallery Director, Michael Eather comments, “These exhibitions in some ways showcase both the order and chaos of looking at the Queensland landscape. In their exquisitely unique ways, both artists bring together fragments of a dream. One reflected through the Indigenous gaze of our colonial history; the other alluding to the euphoria of wandering through beautiful pastures.”

Artwork prices range from: $900 - $9000