Exhibitions
Gary Shinfield - Fringe Dweller
8 - 26 February, 2011
Fringe Dweller is a survey of Gary Shinfield's work from 1990 - 2010. The central idea around which this exhibition pivots is a series of figurative paintings made in the 1990s, which explore the themes of desire, sexuality and identity and this will be the first time many of these works have been shown. A selection of works on paper, including mixed media drawings, etchings and lithographs have been selected to complement and extend the themes in the paintings.
"Outside floating, on the edge trying to locate a place, a place to call home, a place where one arrives, rather than is always arriving. Jumping hoops, in search of an identity that is constant rather than fluxing. A figure locates, or anchors constant movement towards. A figure that is armless and resembles a Wandjina, and says 'this is. When will I grow arms?' Like a tattoo, like a branding, like a birthmark - pink, blue-pink and as my father said, 'your birth mark will always tell us who you are'.
Looking back over work, the figure appears in images. It claims a space. Its first manifestation was a palpable event, like a birth. I was carving a piece of wood and a single eye appeared, a Cyclops, it stared back at me and said 'who are you? I am you'.
Over the years it has demanded space, demanded attention, and I gave it space and a place to be. It is a Chinese abacus notching up wins and losses, it is an accountant of ravenous desire, it is a record of existence, and an inventory of disappointments. In due course it developed working genitalia and all that entails.
I have a special place for it: I tend it as if it were my child, and then I beat it and put it away to remain out of sight. It re-emerges catlike, perverse and of its own accord.
Raise your glass to its persistence and survival...despite its sometimes lack of grace and vulnerability."
Gary Shinfield 2010