Fakes And Fripperies
(Available works)

This work explores my experiences and responses to events through reference to Baroque and Enlightenment periods in Art. I am attracted to the drama, story telling, turbulence and ecstasy in the writhing forms, transparent colours and tonal lighting as well as the sheer beauty and attention to detail of courtly life .  The speed with which it was first glimpsed while travelling through Europe (in a blur, images conflated) often makes its way into the work as a metaphor for the rush of contemporary life and evidences Australia’s geographical (and artistic) isolation. The fact that the Enlightenment /Romantic period also saw the colonisation of Australia also seems appropriate to explore my place in Australian Art and it’s place on the world stage. 

I like to see how far I can push the elements of baroque and still have them remain recognisable, with recent work joyously celebrating the feminine experience, elevating the banal accoutrements to an exceptional level of importance- particularly in the scale of baroque fripperies. Something about the absurdity of all this - speed of travel and trying to understand another culture; the desire to colonise a completely alien world as our forbears did; the decoration and restriction of the natural female form; the gap between rich and poor then and now- it’s complex and compelling to me.