MARS Gallery
‘Winterlude’, Group Exhibition
More about the works in this exhibition:
The titles ‘Pet Event I’ and ‘Pet Event II’ are a play on the same phrase that is used across sporting events to describe an athletes favourite discipline or strongest race, usually the category that they most excel at.
So, in a similar vein - I consider walking around familiar suburbs with a practised curiosity is my Pet Event.
Both paintings in this exhibition reference Ballarat, specifically around Mount Pleasant where I grew up. The paintings exist between memory and observation; inspired by the clearest and crispiest air of Ballarat during deep Winter, to tie in with the theme of ‘Winterlude’ for this group exhibition.
The layering of the original smaller study suspended over the blue gradient in 'Pet Event II' is an intimate and immediate expression of part of my practise that I describe as Pairing. This process of Pairing revolves around the process of finding patterns and associations, usually whilst I am out and about. The main aim of the game here [again with the sporting references] is to find coherence and resonance where others might not, it’s like a call and response that I am playing with myself, there’s layers of in-jokes and meaning applied to almost anything in front of me. It’s a lot of fun when my eye is in.
More often than not Pairing reveals visual rhythm and unexpected narrative. This layering of the garage painting over the large-scale blue gradient is a good example of Pairing - because it demonstrates that there is equal interest and value in both a garage and a blue sky; it points to the interconnectedness of everything.
Contact andy@marsgallery.com.au for enquiries
MARS Art Gallery
MARS Art Gallery
‘Pet Event I’, 162 x 109cm, watercolour on Arches paper, 2026
MARS Art Gallery
MARS Art Gallery
MARS Art Gallery
162 x 109cm, watercolour and soft pastel on Arches paper, 2026
MARS Art Gallery
MARS Art Gallery
MARS Gallery