Art delivers sense of escape
WORKS of art play many roles: they are a means of communication, they express emotion, share feelings, offer symbolic references, and their creation can be cathartic for the maker.
Art can be a vehicle for propaganda, promote political awareness, and convey messages that may impact on society.
But art can also tell stories, be fun, entertaining, and decorative.
A local and a regional exhibition present a sense of escape as well as intriguing concepts for consideration.
The Write Gallery is a new exhibition space that is part of The Lighthouse creative consortium located on the southwestern corner of Hume and Margaret Streets.
The gallery is hosting its inaugural exhibition, Holiday, the work of local artist Monique Correy.
The exhibition marks something of a sea-change for the artist whose response to a serious health issue was to rethink her career and celebrate life.
A tropical holiday atmosphere is created by an extravagant table installation with ferns and foliage that holds promise of a lavish banquet.
Thus, the scene is set in which to appreciate the portraits of seafood, fruit, bikinis drying on a line, and beach belles with their surf boards.
The paintings are richly coloured and textured, from a lobster’s gleaming carapace and detailed feathery tail to the blue-spotted jowls of a fish, the scallops of a shell (pictured), and the succulence of an oyster.
Correy has given individual exotic still life objects a starring role.
But the paintings are more than indulgent holiday fare, they are studies in spatial composition.
The claws of a lobster, a fish’s tail, a sliced papaya are framed and cropped to add drama and focus to the presentation.
While shoreline fossicking is exemplified in a pair of shell encrusted ceramic vessels.
The Lockyer Valley Art Gallery, Lake Apex Drive, Gatton is featuring the exhibition, Davson – Art with Others, a survey of works by Sharon Davson drawn from private, corporate, and international collections.
The exhibition also acknowledges the fifth anniversary of the Davson Gallery that is part of the gallery complex.
Sharon Davson is a force of nature. She is an artist, motivational speaker, entrepreneur, spiritualist, and passionate advocate for endangered species.
She has persuaded many luminaries in the areas of the arts and sport to participate in her painting projects by including their handprints and signatures.
The paintings are intensely detailed, visual narratives underpinned by Eastern philosophies and symbolic intimations.
Many works engage the viewer through a merry little jig-saw entity.
The inclusion of the jigsaw puzzle geometry becomes a complex, calligraphic framework that scrolls across the imagery to create solidarity and strength.
The paintings are illustrative, drawing on influences from fantasy and the surreal.
They include visionary elements: beams of enlightenment that suggest spiritual awareness, gratitude, acceptance, and a plea for peace.