fruits, flowers, and a psychoscape
20 April 2024 - 23 June 2024
Curator:
Artist(s): Jeremy Eaton & Nicholas Smith
Location: The Atrium
This exhibition brings together the work of artists Jeremy Eaton and Nicholas Smith. The collaboration is the second iteration of the artists’ joint exploration of historically coded queer sensibilities that pervade Australian modernism.
For the exhibition, the artists have created a spatial setting comprising painting, sculptures, and a text work, which responds to the surrealist painting practices of Adrian Feint and James Gleeson.
Nicholas’ new, large-scale window installation and paintings draw on the still life works of twentieth century modernist painter Adrian Feint. The yellow glow cast throughout the gallery creates a colour saturated stage reminiscent of stained glass windows. Immersed in the yellow glow are Jeremy's sculptural vessels and a text based work that have emerged from historical and archival research related to artist, poet and critic James Gleeson.
fruits, flowers, and a psychoscape intersects the queer pleasures and emotional resonances implicit in the artists’ response to the work and histories of these two Australian artists.
Jeremy Eaton is represented by LON Gallery. Nicholas Smith is represented by Haydens.
Jeremy Eaton is an artist, writer, curator and works in arts publishing. Over the last five years Eaton has been concerned with exploring various underrepresented homosocial histories to develop print, sculptural, drawing and text-based artworks, which form poetic and material relations between the past and now. Engaging with cinema, literature, art history and social history, Eaton maps potential subtexts that pervade repeated gestures, correlative material use across design and art, and the queer contexts that underpin these relationships. Eaton has presented solo exhibitions at Bundoora Homestead, BUS Projects and West Space and has been included in group exhibitions at LON Gallery, Margaret Lawrence Gallery, Sarah Scout Presents, Dominik Mersch Gallery and CAVES.
Nicholas Smith investigates queerness, sexuality, identity and memory in his works, often employing diverse media including ceramics and found materials. In 2019, Smith was awarded the American Friends of the National Gallery of Australia AusArt Fellowship and in 2022, completed a Masters of Fine Art, Visual Art at ArtCenter College of Design, Los Angeles. Smith’s works have been featured in recent exhibitions including Queer: Stories from The NGV Collection, National Gallery of Victoria, Melbourne (2022); Future Inheritance, NGV Design Week, National Gallery of Victoria, Melbourne (2021); Cooled pride, roused ardour, Bus Projects, Melbourne (2018); Swaddle me, West Space, Melbourne (2017); and I am crying, Firstdraft, Sydney (2017). In 2019, Smith was a finalist in the Midsumma and Australia Post Prize, Melbourne, and in 2016, was a finalist in the Substation Contemporary Art Prize, Melbourne.
Friday, 19 April, 6-8pm
The opening night, with speeches and a Welcome to Country, will be held at Incinerator Gallery alongside exhibitions Country is Calling, The light draws along… and All these eyes were mine.
Saturday, 18 May, 2pm
Free—Registrations recommended
Join artists Jeremy Eaton and Nicholas Smith in-conversation as they discuss their concurrent interests and the site-specific installation at Incinerator Gallery.