Seventh Gallery’s current exhibition connects iconography associated with children and youth with complex ideas and varied forms of practice.
Memorable for the intervention between gallery one and two, James Parkinson’s Free Time captures the function of free versus ‘non-free’ and the functionality of art in a physical space. A pit has been constructed in the gallery, filled with coloured balls and is complimented by singular colour Lego installations on the gallery walls. This is both attractive to passers by and a deterrent for visitors to gallery two and the project space.
Cathyann Coady’s screen based Head Case compares self saturated imagery with children’s plush toys in a poignant sarcastic parallel to the selfie obsessed consumer culture prevalent in our constantly digitally connected culture.
Terrence Combos Rococo Deluxe Units abstract grid paintings are installed in the project space between Parkinson and Coady’s works. Combos created the works with a ‘keyboard mash’ in which autocorrect decides the outcome.
Clementine Edwards I looked the dog in the eyes is a stop motion video on the night screen rounds out the colourful yet discordant exhibition. Edwards, a jeweller and artist, tells a nihilistic narrative recounting the materiality of our existence.
The primary colours, use of Lego and other children toys, and the stop motion video create an exhibition both familiar yet intriguing.
Seventh Gallery
155 Gertrude Street, Fitzroy
Exhibition continues to 8 August 2015
For more information, visit: www.seventhgallery.org for details.
Image: Catherine Coady, Decapitated My little Pony Head Head (2015), framed digital print on metallic paper, 100cm x 100cm
Review: Jasmin Bardell