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"THE THEATRE OF YOU & ME"PAINTINGS BY TIM VAGG
KICK GALLERY 239 HIGH ST.
NORTHCOTE, MELBOURNE, VICTORIA 3070
OPENING FRIDAY AUGUST 24 7-10PM
Opened by Mr. Andrew Sibley
TIM VAGG- ARTIST/PAINTER/DESIGNER/MUSICIAN/DJ
I have made myself known in Melbourne and surrounds as a dynamic artist and musician, involving myself in everything from music festivals, theatre, and comedy, to highly personal and raw exhibitions of my paintings, which have found their way onto the walls of art collectors and led to four sell out solo shows in recent years.
I paint in a lyrical and gestural style that covers a wide and appealing ground. From the whimsical, naive, childlike and emotive, suggestive of the figurative work of Australian artists such as Joy Hester or Brett Whiteley, to a harder graphic street style which draws on the influence of graffiti and artist’s such as Jean-Michel Basquiat. More recently, I have been inspired by the narrative street art of Brazilian twins Os Gemeos and an appreciation of the Folk Art vernacular with it's celebration of colour, pattern and the everyday.
"Through his skillful use of artistic techniques and characters that act as metaphors for his underlying thematic considerations Vagg is able to convey to his audience the contradictions, irony, beauty and, at times, repulsion of the everyday from a more localised perspective.â€
Jake Hoerner Kick Gallery Director 2002-2007
TIM VAGG - "THE THEATRE OF YOU & ME"
AUGUST 2007
Tim Vagg's new body of work is essentially a dynamic follow-up to 2005's highly successful sell out exhibition, "NORTHCOTE STORIES" in which the artist observed local Northcote personalities through the prism of his highly imaginative, whimsical and decorative gaze.
Here in "THE THEATRE OF YOU & ME," the artist once again presents the viewer with a host of intriguing characters that inhabit the theatre of the artists ’ inner world, staring to one side, sometimes melancholic, feverish and self conscious, beguiling and perhaps intruded upon by the viewer, as if in an awkward photograph.
Partly inspired by some the imagery of late New York photographer, Diane Arbus and the faces of yearning in the work of Australian artists, Joy Hester and John Brack, the artist brings together such diverse influences as Mexican Folk Art, 1970 ’ s garish wallpaper design, Brazilian street art, children's book illustration combined with a narrative whimsy in the vein of Marc Chagall or even Australian artist and cartoonist, Michael Leunig.
As with "NORTHCOTE STORIES" there are no direct portrayals of anyone living or past, but the characters are both autobiographical and observations of others represented in a symbolic way, existing more as an allegorical expression of a particular mood or emotional state. The artist has then places these self-conscious figures in the back drop of an empty room, or an emotional stage, minimal and reductive and slightly awkward and claustrophobic, to accentuate and direct the viewer's focus upon the emotional reading of the face .
This stage-like setting of flocked wallpapers and rose stenciling enhance the theatrical context of the melodrama of the characters and almost act as a character themselves in story of "The Theatre of You & Me." Tim Vagg ’ s work is a synthesis and embodiment of 15 years of experimentation, including dalliances with street art stenciling, music, dance, performance and design and printmaking, that brings his investigations into line with the breaking down of barriers between Fine Art and "outsider" forms such as naive art, children's art, street art and illustration. The artist seeks to elevate what was once considered ‘ lower art forms ’ to the status of Fine Art.
Themes that permeate the artists work include; loss of innocence, beauty in everyday detail, simplicity, redemption and the yearning for the unattainable, all forces which drive the human condition but perhaps have a quiet and distilled voice only audible to those who take the time to hear it. These works are concerned with private rather than social realities, with psychological rather than visual coherence, with the prototypical and mythic rather than topical and temporal. Hopefully you'll agree that when these works speak, they speak loud and clear.
One of the strongest influences on my work is perhaps the intuitive and emotional power of the drawings of both young children and madmen. I have worked with primary-age children for 5 years and always been fascinated by the intrinsic visual logic of their imagery. This is raw visual communication free of pretence and self consciousness, a state of expression that as an adult I aspire to achieve. I think when you want to express something emotionally but not to be over the top, simplicity and humour play an important role in communicating genuine aspects of the human condition.
Examples of my work here, cover some of the main exhibitions of the last ten years and although there is alot of diversity in my approaches, there is a consistent line of inquiry that hopefully expresses my intentions towards expressing sophisticated adult concepts through simplistic, child-like and direct imagery.
BIOGRAPHICAL NOTES
1973 -Born Canberra A.C.T.
1975 -Raised in Ballarat
1993 -Moved to Melbourne
1996 -Bachelor of Fine Arts (Painting) Ballarat University
2001 -Graduate Diploma of Education (Fine Art) Melbourne University
SOLO EXHIBITIONS
2007 The Theatre of You & Me
Kick Gallery, Northcote
2005 Northcote Stories
Kick Gallery, Northcote
2004 Dogmatika
Kick Gallery Northcote
2003 Face Up
Kick Gallery, Northcote
2000 Simbolos Sagrados
Hogan Gallery Collingwood
1997 Surface Tension
Metro Gallery, Nth. Melbourne
SELECTED GROUP SHOWS
2002 Inner Sense
Kick Gallery, Northcote
1999 Three -Eltham Library
1998 Re-view -Eltham Library
1997 New Visions -Ballarat Fine Art Gallery
1996 Contemporary Art Fair, Melbourne
1996 Highly Strung -Ararat Art Gallery
1995 State Library Emerging Artists Exhibition
1993 Mural Eureka Museum Ballarat
COLLECTIONS
State Library of Victoria
Ballarat Fine Art Gallery
Ararat Gallery
Private Collections
PRIZES AND AWARDS
1999 Warrandyte Youth Arts Award
1996 David Pratt Drawing Prize
[email protected]
www.myspace.com/timvagg
[email protected]