Opening Night:
Carolyn V. Watson
Owning the Bones
January 21 to February 18, 2012

Please join us for drinks with Carolyn from 6pm on Saturday, January 21.
This is Carolyn’s first solo exhibition and it will be opened by Independent lecturer and writer Ben Byrne. Ben is the Research and Postgraduate Secretary at Queensland College of Art, Brisbane.

Click here to RSVP for the Opening Night.

Thoreau’s words, “Know your own bone; gnaw it, bury it, unearth it, and gnaw it still” inform Carolyn V Watson’s conceptualisation and absolute rigour of process in producing “intimately veiled” paintings and “scorched raw” sculptural pieces. With anthropomorphic intent, her anatomically imperfect feral animals are the embodiment of flawed humanity’s foibles and deepest longings.

Ancient beliefs held that the essence of a person was contained in the bones. For Brisbane-based and QCA trained Watson, they represent something enduring in the passing of time – the possessing or coming to terms with one’s own past histories. “The use of bones as a base material is a readily identifiable metaphor,” she muses. “It’s about knowing ourselves, every bulbous, gnarled memory, and accepting the repercussions of our actions and embracing the gift of regret.”

There is a strangely unsettling quality to Watson’s works – one that positively urges engagement. The survival instinct of species alien to new environment finds parallel with our own behavioural patterns when adrift in unfamiliar territory; selective, destructive, adaptive. A curious paradox presents itself as Watson portrays the existential predicament of her empathically termed “stoic thieves”. “I want there to be a quiet tenderness within these works that is beyond the immediate surface,” offers Watson.

The evidence of process and a respect for the handmade is an integral component in all of Watson’s works. There is nothing instantaneous in her practice. “It has always been an emotional title-fight of persistence,” she says, “and a discipline to not go the easy way or use a simple card trick to bring the work to an end.” Watson describes her mixed media drawings on linen as being like ‘cave paintings on skin’ where the internal workings are made manifest in an interplay of brutal shedding and delicate accretion. “I work intuitively,” she explains. “The initial drawn line instigates the Chinese whisper. There is a constant re-editing of space as each layer alters its course and grows over or changes with time. The drips of ink that pool are the only evidence of a previous existence.” Two notable elements within the imagery are the exaggeration of the protagonist’s ears and the omission of at least one limb – “the proverbial, something missing”. Other limbs have evolved into human-like hands. Watson’s mutant creatures invite the viewer to consider one’s own vulnerability and pathos.

The same regard for craftsmanship is invested in Watson’s sculptures that are hand-stitched with a “loving maternal patience”. At first encounter the constructions appear jarring. Standing stark on steel-rod legs, their bodies are encased in felt and sheep leather stretched taut and surmounted by real skulls and antlers. As with the drawings, here too anatomy has been granted a poetic license. The absence of ears in these works is intended to heighten audience participation. Without ears the beings are not readily classified – they become ‘other’ – and as such, act as a conduit to personal reflection. Watson’s new sculptures are white. Aside from the connotations of bones, ghosts and the totemic, she explains that she felt a need to move away from the ‘shadow’ aspect of her previous work. White invites a closer scrutiny where the considered dance of thread becomes evident. “The binding of the object has evolved beyond a system of containment,” says Watson. “It now has a linear function and provides a connection between the 2D and 3D work.”

Although Watson’s art is deeply personal, she is reluctant to expound upon the narrative content and underlying symbolism, preferring that the viewer respond instinctively. Her intention is the prompting of a dialogue with these “aching, untamed creatures” and to express “a quiet tenderness that is beyond the immediate surface.” The exhibition owning the bones is the culmination of experience and memory – an uneasy acceptance of “the human habits exhibited in the everyday.” With a defiant black humour, Watson hopes to “elevate our own marks and scars to that of trophy-room pride.”

Read Full Press Release Here  |  View exhibition works

The exhibition is showing at Anthea Polson Art, Shops 18-20 Mariners Cove, Seaworld Drive Main Beach QLD 4217 (next to Marina Mirage), from January 21 – February 18 2012

Opening Night:
Our Represented Artists’ Christmas Show
Eight Days Befor Christmas
December 17, 2011 – January 21, 2012

Please join us for drinks with the artists from 6pm to 9pm on Saturday, December 17, 2011.

This year our group exhibition will be opened by the wonderfully provocative Andrew Stark, and you will have the chance to win a selected piece from one of our talented represented artists, as our Door Prize!

Click here to RSVP for the Opening Night.

Each year to celebrate the Season and thank our artists and clients for their valued support, Anthea Polson Art hosts a special Christmas party in conjunction with the opening of the annual represented artists’ group exhibition. With old Advent Calendar connotations, the title for this year’s show is Eight Days Before Christmas. The broad spectrum of responses to a very open theme highlights the vibrant diversity of the creative imagination and process. Works on paper, canvases large and small, assemblage and sculpture interpret the spirit of the season with joyous colour, reflective narrative, humour and sometimes a touch of irony.

Naive painter Martin Edge embraces his subject with a twinkling of humour and reverence. A starry night envelops the stable while within a brilliantly sunny day illuminates the nativity scene and The New Born King. He gives the work the feel of a school Christmas play with the false looking beards, wigs and ill-fitting costumes. Curiously but appropriately, the newly born Christ Child sits upright in His manger, beatifically beaming out at us. Also subtly referencing the Christmas story is Lyndal Hargrave’s starburst-like construction. A perfection of symmetry and elegance, its white radials mysteriously cast an ethereal glow against the gallery wall. Nick Howson’s jewel-hued Kingdom depicts a mighty lion that is an embodiment of messianic power. He carries on his back the ‘Celestial City’ of the promised future Kingdom.  More…

Read Full Press Release Here | View Exhibition

The exhibition is showing at Anthea Polson Art, Shop 18-20 Mariners Cove, Seaworld Drive Main Beach QLD 4217 (next to Marina Mirage), from December 17, 2011 – January 21, 2011