The Real Thing July–September 2017, Murray Art Museum Albury

My work has investigated the possibilities of a flattened picture plane for many years. Often the work verges on the edge of abstraction. Paint is applied in a way that avoids brush marks to appear flat. The work has the appearance of being manufactured rather than hand made. This way of working has perhaps been influenced by viewing source images second hand, as photos or on a screen. Removing any trace of the artist’s hand or signs of individuality appeals as a way to represent generic environments and objects, which are recurrent themes in my work. This flatness, reminiscent of poster art, creates an image that is accessed quickly and easily on a superficial level. The depth and complexity lies in the relational play and perception of shape and colour. Colour is primarily the most essential, intoxicating element that there is to work with. The possibilities of colour are never ending. In all its various incarnations and combinations it can be heavy and weighted, light, dirty, clean, irritating, uplifting and everything else besides.

I began using Laminex in recent years to create works alongside an ongoing painting practice. These works are mechanically reproduced rather than just appearing to be. Why Laminex? Conceptually Laminex resonates with the subject matter of the interior. It is a material quite commonly used as a surface application in domestic interiors. It also resonates for many who grew up in Australia. It is reminiscent of family homes and childhood. Suburban kitchens were often decorated with descriptively named colours like Energise orange, Olympia red or Sensation yellow.

I see Laminex as readymade coloured sheets, smoother, flatter and more luminous than either painted paper or canvas. Laminex as a material is suggestive of artifice. The Laminex range contains wood grain and stone reproduction veneers. It is applied to surfaces to suggest something it is not.

Unlike the unlimited colour possibilities that come with working with paint, Laminex’s colour palette is limited and comes predetermined. This limited colour palette and the material’s inflexibility allows me to achieve further compositional abstraction within these works.

This exhibition explores the use of Laminex, a decorative domestic surface, and the associated meaning this brings to the works.