User login

Media Release: Twelve Ways & Twelve Artists

Exhibition title/s:

Twelve Ways & Twelve Artists

Exhibition duration: 
Where:

Saturday 5/12/2020 to 06/02/2021 (FireWorks Gallery is closed 25/12/2020-26/01/2021)

FireWorks Gallery, 9/31 Thompson St Bowen Hills QLD 4006

Exhibition opening:

Saturday 5 December 12pm-4pm

 

Media Contact:

 

Michael Eather

Phone:

0418 192 845

Email:

michael@fireworksgallery.com.au

Exhibition cost:                Free

To close the year 2020, twelve artists from FireWorks Gallery’s stable will be featured across two exhibitions. Twelve Artists (in the ground floor gallery) showcases new works (all 40x40cm paintings) whilst Twelve Ways (in the mezzanine gallery), curated by Dr Daryl Hewson, comprises existing works from stock, across works on paper, paintings, and sculpture.

For the exhibition Twelve Artists, these past months have seen a flurry of blank canvases departing FireWorks gallery, returning with delightful and dynamic depictions of varying subjects, themes, colours and composition. For example, The creek I, 2020 [Image 1] continues perhaps David Paulson’s most popular subject - the infamous Maleny creek. Whilst one may recognise moments of clarity, including allusions to water, stone, leaves or twigs, the artist views nature simply as a brilliant convenience to recreate his cropped abstractions.

An avid art collector, Dr Hewson was invited to curate Twelve Ways, commenting on his selection, “the exhibition really starts with Ian Waldron’s The Pale Horse, 2020 [Image 2]. Although the work has a grim, topical subject, it is really about deliverance from the maelstrom with a path to freedom. The bright reds and blues of the work escape to the more tranquil world of the other eleven selected artists. All of the works, although quite diverse, have been chosen because of commonalities and confluences. They all echo each other in some way, mostly through colour or form. The other main theme is quiet contemplation.” This latter theme is explored by Melbourne abstract artist Matthew Johnson in Hybrid II [Image 3], representing his journey into country with Ian in 2019. Matthew explains that for him, his circular motifs have become something of his own totem, not dissimilar to Ian’s sculptural Bloodwood poles [Image 4].

Three of FireWorks’ Cairns-based artists (all originating from Lockhart River) also feature throughout Twelve Ways. Alongside paintings by Rosella Namok and Samantha Hobson, Fiona Omeenyo’s figurative compositions inhabit Double Stone sunset, depicting the prominent site at Quintell Beach near Lockhart River [Image 5]. A delicate work on paper, North Queensland Shield VIII [Image 6] by Sunshine Coast artist Jennifer Herd, pays tribute to the Bama warriors of the North Queensland rainforests in the Atherton Tableland region. The geometrical designs in the work reference the traditional painted shields unique to the region.

Local artist Pat Hoffie’s work on paper from the Sherpa series [Image 7] is a continuation of her focus on forms of work. “It began while I was on the Everest Base Camp trek some six years ago, when I was struck by the irony of men carrying double their weight in loads of throwaway products manufactured in mainland China,” says Pat. “The bent-over figures seem exhausted by the weight of global trade and international capital.” Other local artists who will be exhibiting are Alick Sweet, Joanne Currie, Michael Eather and Yvonne Mills-Stanley.

“FireWorks Gallery is proud to be showcasing these two exhibitions,” gallery Director Michael Eather comments. “These exhibitions celebrate the art created by 12 artists (Indigenous and non-Indigenous) who are based in studios from Melbourne all the way up to the top end of the eastern coast of Australia.”