current exhibition
Last modified on 2008-10-10 04:27:36 GMT. 0 comments. Top.
Kick Gallery presents,
Tim Vagg
Batmania:
Tales from a cold Melbourne studio
Opening 6-9pm Friday October 10
Exhibition runs until November 1 2008
Batmania – Tales from a cold Melbourne studio is Tim Vagg’s fifth solo exhibition at Kick Gallery and represents his continued development of a personalised style of ‘urban folk art’. As in his most recent exhibitions, Northcote Stories [2005] and The Theatre of You & Me [2007], Tim’s vibrant ‘stage-like’ compositions are host to a cast of whimsical characters born out of the artist’s dreams and inner world. Evoking a sense of child-like innocence and inviting us to recall the wonder and awe of being read stories as children, Tim’s pictures also incorporate insightful commentary on human emotions and the external world.
Tim’s thoughtful and sophisticated visual language allows us to explore an inner innocence and at the same time recognize an ever-present menace through the symbol of bats that cut into his playful scenery. Through this representation of a duality of life’s experiences we are offered an escape from the bluntness and banality that often creeps into modern life while still being conscious of the challenges and difficulties of existence and the everyday.
“As a child I was fascinated with dioramas and used to make my own little villages out of cardboard boxes and act out little plays as if they were a mini-theatre…these paintings are kind of snap shots of these dream dramas and act as a kind of notebook of the ever-changing characters that inhabit my internal emotional theatre.”
“I think the bats in my paintings are used to contrast the sense of innocence in the colourful ornamentation and decoration of the backgrounds, and evoke a sense of the darker parts of the heart, infusing into the works a menacing quality.”
The prevalence and the symbolism of the bats represent universal themes but also have relevance to the artist’s sense of place and identity of living in the multi-cultural metropolis of Melbourne.
“The bat embodies a kind of emotional power or feeling that is very Melbourne to me. They are foreigners but have made a home here. I have come to love them, their gliding across our backyards at night has always been a mysterious yet reassuring thing to me.”
While the symbolism and subtle messages are evident in Tim’s new work many viewers will be focused primarily on the artists rich and decorative use of paint and his creation of this world of unique people and places.
Tim draws influence from numerous Art styles, including Street Art and Naive Art, as well as, the plano-graphic compositions and decorative ornamentation of Mexican, Latin-American and Romanian folk art, styles. Tim also quotes influences as diverse as, Australian artists; Joy Hester, Andrew Sibley, Reg Mombassa and Michael Leunig, to the Austrian symbolist painter, Gustave Klimt, Brazilian graffiti artists, Os Gemeos, to Americans Andy Kehoe and photographer Diane Arbus, to British painter and filmmaker, Dave McKean.
Batmania: Tales from a cold Melbourne studio runs until November 1 2008.
