A painterly exploration of masculinity
and the significance of dress
by emerging artist Felicity Lovett
‘Chromophobia’, according to David Batchelor, is the Western tendency to treat an excess of colour as corrupting, superficial, Other, and or feminine.
Felicity Lovett’s paintings engage with the contemporary visual language of hegemonic masculinity which so often outwardly presents as suppressively bland and colourless. The collection of figurative and portrait-style paintings in Chromophobia are part of an ongoing investigation into what these masculine dress codes say about how we collectively view gender and sexual-orientation, and the socio-political significance of clothing.
The work draws on the everyday subject matter of 19th Century Realism, and the strange conventions of modern fashion imagery, both of which exhibit a tendency to artificially insert human beings into idealised outdoor locations. The subjects of these works participated in a process of self and artist-directed performance, photography, and costume aimed at interrupting usual modes of self-presentation.
The final amalgamation of imagery in each painting alludes to a mediated, contrived, slightly awkward version of reality, which gently and playfully subverts masculine tropes for both viewers and the viewed, while tender, painterly rendering retains the nuanced humanity of the individuals depicted.
EXHIBITION DATES:
Thursday 2 – Friday 31 May 2019
9:00am – 5:00pm weekdays | 10:00am – 4:00pm Saturdays | CLOSED Sundays
OFFICIAL OPENING:
Thursday 2 May 2019, 6:00pm – 7:30pm
With live music by Harry Edwards and Issac Gee
DEMONSTRATION:
Live portrait and figure painting by the artist
Saturday 18 & Saturday 25 May 2019, 11:00am – 3:00pm
Image Credits: Felicity Lovett