16 May – 9 June 2012
“My pictures are full of climates, abstract climates, and not nature per se but a feeling.”
Gallery 9 is pleased to present Melody Willis’s second exhibition at Gallery 9 which encompasses a new series of work exploring the relationship between paintings and objecthood. Taking the quote above by American painter Helen Frankenthaler as a starting point, Willis’s ideas are focussed on capturing the atmosphere of living in coastal Australia.
Instead of painting directly on a blank surface, Willis begins by dying unprimed linen before it is stretched. Through soaking, dying and bleaching the linen, the painting which results appears to emerge from the dying process and the abstract surface and textures created within it. The compositions overlaid on top of this abstract surface come from photographs of incidental arrangements of objects found on the street and these photographs are transferred into drawings which then form the basis of the paintings.
Recently the artist has been exploring the links between objects and painting by ripping up her old paintings, refashioning them into soft furnishings. Exhibited alongside the paintings the installation recently shown at Eastern Bloc (an artist run space in Rozelle, Sydney) presented an interesting dynamic between concept and comfort. This will inspire the work in Gallery 9’s forthcoming show.