Small discoveries

Small discoveries

By Rhonda Dredge

A romantic artist connects the viewer to something that is not quite visible. It might be a lighthouse just over the next hill or an exhibition down a small flight of stairs.

Two painters at Fort Delta in the Capitol Arcade have included philosophical prompts as platforms for their work. Gervaise Netherway has shown eight paintings in a free-form lyrical style that have no particular starting points.

The destination has been the completion of the series. It is up to the viewer to pick this final resting place.

The other painter Ieuan Weinman has shown four depictions of the same scene, a railway cutting near the zoo. Scenes are meticulously painted in a grid from photographs. A reference from Zizek is provided.

Two copies of Zizek’s 2014 book are freely available on the shelves of Melbourne Uni for the determined art-lover. How can the connections be made?

Zizek’s writing is lucid and his ideas wide-ranging. He provides a definition of an event as a moment when a shift in knowledge occurs.

A critic looks for flaws in an argument. One is found in the cited chapter from Absolute Recoil.  The metaphor has been wrongly coupled with tragedy when it belongs to romance.

References for the urban artist are more likely to be baroque ceilings, European philosophical treatises or perspective shifts on the internet than recognisable places from life.

A work can connect viewers with these global spaces, opening up meaning, or it can turn them off. It can have a joke at viewers’ expense by playing with expectations or invite them into the process of art-making.

These artists have bravely attempted the latter feat in an exhibition that provides small discoveries for those who like more than visual data in their art.

Gervaise Netherway and Ieuan Weinman are showing at Fort Delta, Capitol Arcade, until March 26.

Since Labor has been in power …

Since Labor has been in power …

March 20th, 2024 - Evan Mulholland
Like us on Facebook