Exhibitions Still Life Group Exhibition Lives of Their Own 7th February 2023 - 4th March 2023

"Some of our strongest, most lasting relationships are hidden in plain view: those we have with objects."
- The Promise of Things by Ruth Quibell

Featuring new works created by both FLG and guest artists, each will bring to this exhibition an intimate expression of the still life genre, elevating humble forms toward states of preciousness.

One of the pleasures of looking at a still life painting is its ability to offer insights into smaller details of the world, alongside a deeper narrative of the lived experience.

As an art form still life images possess an enduring appeal and are as popular today as they have been throughout history. Within contemporary practice the subject matter that can be represented in this medium is broad – from the humble toothbrush to the regal beauty of vases and exotic flowers.

The practice of creating a still life image is as much a meditation of form, contour and shade as it is about celebrating things of beauty.

Our artists have painted objects that resonate for them. These paintings offer up hidden stories and quiet tales of connection.

In this intimate group show FLG artists Margaret Ackland, Kim Anderson, Julie Davidson, Chelsea Gustafsson, Bronwyn Hill, Michelle Molinari, Hobie Porter, Michael Simms join guest artist Christine Webb to explore the stories found imparted within intimate objects.

MARGARET ACKLAND

Artist Statement
A simple vase of poppies, slightly wilted, stand against a dark fabric background. The pattern is a riff on the French Toile de Jouy, a cotton printed with pastoral landscapes and figures that became widely used in the 18th century.

I was working on this painting in September when I heard that the Queen had died. If you look you will find her cipher hidden in the pattern as well as two bees. It was reported that the royal beekeeper was obliged to personally inform the Queen's bees of her passing.

The pull of still life, for me is that it can be at once extremely intimate, and also universal, a small world anyone can recognise and also a revelation of my private world mostly revealed in the reversed and distorted reflections on the objects I’ve put together.

KIM ANDERSON

Artist Statement
I recently came into possession of a box of dresses belonging to my grandmother and great grandmother – ball dresses, a nightgown, a wedding dress stored away for decades, many of them meticulously hand-made. As I draw these worn, frayed yet precious garments, I feel their threads connecting me back through time to these women as their younger selves. Before children, before grandchildren, before I knew them or they knew me. Women like me with their own hopes and desires, their own worries and concerns, women of multitudes and dimensions beyond the roles of mother and grandmother. I wonder what their dreams might have been for what their lives would become.

JULIE DAVIDSON

Artist Statement
Still life has always been, for me, a vehicle by which to express a sense of time and place. The objects work in conjunction with the basic constructs of composition, colour, and light to create a harmonious whole. In saying this, the provenance of an object plays an important role and references the historical significance of the Asian aesthetic, as well as using pieces created by known local artisans - history in the making.

CHELSEA GUSTAFSSON

Artist Statement
It’s no surprise that a group of people can sit around the same object and paint or draw it vastly different from each other. Likewise, when we view an object it can mean something completely different to each individual: represent a moment in time, trigger an emotion and memory, or to someone else simply look like just another trashy, opshop dust bunny.

My selection of objects come from the many ‘props’ I have lying around my studio. These items either represent a person or trigger a memory, for example a family holiday, my Nana’s kitchen, or our childhood dress-up box and therefore have an emotion connected to them. Some objects have made multiple appearances in paintings over the years and sometimes this will mean they take on another meaning also. And some shuffle around my space, catching the changing light, waiting for their turn to feature in a work – to support the narrative of a painting or series.

BRONWYN HILL

Artist Statement
Morning glory vine, while adorned with beautiful flowers, is known locally for taking over its environment. These plants personally represent obsession or anxious thoughts for me, with their ability to grow quickly and discreetly until they bloom, when you realise just how deep they have gone, strangling surrounding plants along the way. These three small still life paintings capture a cutting I have been growing of the vine and represent some overwhelming feelings I’ve been having with my own time management as well as health concerns for some of my family. My thoughts are like these vines, contained but untamed. The glass vessels used in these pieces are from my father’s collection and ants can be seen throughout each of the paintings with their numbers increasing as the plant grows.

MICHELLE MOLINARI

Artist Statement
The lived experience refers to the representation of the experiences and choices of individuals and the knowledge that is gained from these occurrences. The objects which we accumulate and acquire throughout our lives are interlaced with a personal narrative which speaks of an individual experience, affinity, significance, or memory. These items reveal something about the person who amassed them.

My collection of things is representative of my interest in nature and practice of taxidermy which has deeply informed my paintings over the years. The objects represented within this composition are scattered with both personal significance and symbolism.

The boxes have symbolic resonance which represent my compiled memories and emotions. The large taxidermy bird was a gift given to me some years ago and as such holds a great deal of sentiment. Although its provenance and past life remains unknown and unchangeable, I have become the custodian of its future care and preservation. The birds and skull represent the fragility of life and the acceptance of death which are imbued within the objects I am drawn towards. Fresh flowers are also fleeting reminders of this, but when received from a loved one, they hold a special meaning which I always want to preserve and reflect upon. The card depicts the inspiration taken from looking at artworks from past centuries, while the images in the foreground reflect the evolution and modernisation these ideas. The small wooden vase belonged to my late grandparents. Not only is it an interesting object but it holds a piece of their memory, which continues through its representation in this work.

HOBIE PORTER

Artist Statement
Leaves have featured consistently throughout my arts practice. On a physical level, I enjoy their organic, lyrical and textural qualities. I think of a leaf as something that is easily overlooked in the world. I enjoy painting leaves in their wondrous detail, so that a casual observer might be deceived into believing that they have a physical presence.

Leaves are so fleeting once collected. Their colours fade quickly and dramatically. My motivation to depict leaves partly stems from an inclination to want to preserve their beautiful colours in a more permanent way before they wither. Their gravitas for me will always lay in their suggestive qualities, stimulating readings of fragility and mortality.

I live in the rainforest of North-Eastern NSW. Leaves are ever present in my world and they are a biographical signifier in this regard. They serve as a marker of my sense of belonging. It is calming to paint whole tapestries of them.

MICHAEL SIMMS

Artist Statement
This collection of still-life paintings are part of an ongoing series that explore queer ontology and the tropes of masculinity. ‘Strong Men II’ for example, depicts wrestling figurines that are often associated with machismo. Here, they are coated with an impenetrable metallic coating with vivid light to craft a tension that interplays camp, satire and homoeroticism.

I’ve experimented with a high-chroma palette to convey a sense of escapism with certain objects, all of which are layered in symbolism - from the pink flamingo to a brown paper bag. These are contrasted against ‘Morning Glow’, in which a glass of Berocca sits alongside a deflated balloon to reveal hidden truths to our fantastical narratives.

CHRISTINE WEBB

Artist Statement
I have been fortunate to live in many wonderful places and have accumulated ‘stuff’, far too much stuff, but beautiful cherished things from family, markets and discarded things that have entered my world and stayed. Between a family home in Sorrento Victoria, Umbria Italy where I lived for many years and my Sydney studio, my peripatetic life has been anchored, perhaps shackled, by these things. Nevertheless the split in my worlds is echoed in my use of the horizon. As if seen from some out of world place the horizon reflects and shimmers. Concrete objects mirrored in real and imagined reflection, the bottles, vases and shells stand in rhythmic collections defined not only as if they were family but also by the pleasing spaces between them. Carefully chosen, the beauty of kerning is as important to me as the objects themselves. The nothing between is symbolic of the concentration and focus required to lose myself in the works.