VISUAL ARTS

HAVE ONE ON ME Sam Field Despard Gallery Upstairs 15 Castray Esp, Hobart Until September 16 Price range: $2200–$4250

T here’s a surface reading of Sam Field’s work where we can see it as something fun, filled with a kind of whimsical, comedic, absurd reading of elements of Australian history. Field’s work is funny, at least at first. This is not all it is though, although comedy in whatever form it comes, is not to be glossed over – it can be the very best way of talking about a complicated issue.

Field uses a painting style that mixes up primitive, almost childlike image-making, with complex and intense brush work and chunks of rich colour, which moves from an expressionist-influenced roughness to imaginative figure making, sometimes in one painting. It draws the eye deeply into the work, so that Field can really have that conversation he wants to have with his audience. Field does want to have a good time with his art, but he also want us to consider the ideas he’s putting out there.

Field is taking on something complex. In the rather magnificent work Grog Box, he goes for a subversion of the Australian coat of arms – re-creating it in his signature style, but also subverting it by shifting the focus to Australia’s drinking culture. It’s funny and familiar, but there’s also that questioning of whether a culture that celebrates drinking to excess is in a fit state or not. Field isn’t making a judgment though – the words ‘have one on me’ drift near the sprawling coat of arms, making the artist himself part of the discussion – here he is offering the drink to you; he’s involved as well.

This self-awareness, and its attendant personal reflection, is found in a lot of Field’s art. Yes, he is wondering about Australian history, about all the things that are held as part of Australian culture, but he includes himself: he has that wry, laconic humour that comes from being Australian. This is why there’s a large fried egg in Pride of The

Australian Cattle Industry – you don’t have a burger without a fried egg, mate, it’s unAustralian. It’s a gag, but it’s a smart one-liner with implications: Field is able to single out the smallest details of national character, and asks ‘why we are this way, who we are, and how did we get to this particular juncture of history?’

There’s a lot of thought here, as well as a distillation of personal experience and research. Field is an artist who seems to have read a lot of history, looked at a number of the colonial monuments that scatter our country, and attempted to work out what it all means and how we fit together. His work doesn’t have answers for us – it more asks questions. I was thinking about this, Field says. What do you reckon about it?