Salerno Gallery’s group exhibition “Face Apart” returns in 2013 with an exciting array of stylistically and thematically varied contemporary portraiture by local Sydney artists.
Artists include : EARS, BENNETT, Phil James, Takie, Gerald Leung, Phil Williams and Lauren Lau.
Daniel O’Toole aka EARSis a street artist, sound artist and painter, building a body of work that feeds from a psychological reference point depicting images of the internal state. Using loose figurative abstractions of the human form, his paintings are more or less abstract colour studies, utilising the portrait as the vessel. The themes of uniformity and isolation offer a chance to consider the idea of freedom and identity, as we all at some point, have been institutionalised and held captive by false freedoms.
BENNETTis painter working with found materials and tactile surfaces to discover a sense of history beyond the context of its final resolve. This nostalgic recontextualization of mass media targets an aesthetic desire to resolve the image, yet his experimentation with abstraction and colour play is a constant driving force behind the work.
Takie is a painter primarily concerned with the dismantling of people and objects to reveal the raw components that construct the whole. By assembling these shapes to rebuild the subject, an understanding of who she is, awakens, creating a therapy and dialogue between artist and subject. A compulsion to portray these studies using a contrast heavy, bold colour palette extends the idea of becoming ourselves through others, re-establishing the self as a porous entity.
Phil James is best recognised for his use of the artistic technique Daubism. Drawing inspiration from Marcel Duchamp during the Dada movement, Phil’s pieces transmit a unique sense of humour and irreverence – reflecting the character of the artist himself and the era he grew up in. Through the irony of his work, Phil challenges traditional preconceptions of art as being exclusive or elitist and welcomes a new audience to consider an old and forgotten piece.
Gerald Leung was born in Hong Kong but raised in Australia, fed with a steady diet of comic books, video games and cartoons from both the east and the west. Through these influences he became fascinated by the concept of a man-made universes. By experimenting with different mediums and styles his character driven illustrations share an insight to his inner universe; an odd, surrealist world he has named the Black Rhombi.
Phil Williams‘ practice focuses on developing innovative methods of image construction. Pragmatic transformations of traditional painting techniques lent through ideas born of other media and technology. Elements of play, kitsch and psychedelia celebrate and lighten the intensity and parable like foundations of experimental and non-representational painting.
Lauren Lau is a traditional oil painter focused on the exploration of dark themes in portraiture and still life. Lauren’s figurative work is inspired by specific subcultures that fascinate her and often juxtapose the chosen traditional painting techniques. Her honest portraits are executed with fine attention to detail and reverence for the sitter.