The series sources its name from our documentary, White Light. In the first five minutes of the film, Harith Augustus is gunned down by police as he walks to his barber shop , in front of school children, and in the last scene two of our main characters take a river cruise through the centre of Chicago to witness the very privileged and luxurious lifestyle of the white residents of the city and as the cruise ends they look up to see Trump Tower looming down from above.
By hanging these paintings in a totally Aussie working-class holiday context the juxtaposition becomes surreal. The eye can go from a painting to the view out the back windows of a Hills Hoist washing line and backyard barbeque and from the front windows to waves rolling in as surfers carry their boards down to the sand.
If these paintings were viewed in a pristine, white walled gallery or in the lavish home of a fine art collector their placing would seem normal and not unexpected. By being found where serious art is not normally exhibited the surroundings become art. It is the opposite of found object art like Duchamp’s urinal gaining sculptural importance by being placed in a gallery.
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By hanging these paintings in a totally Aussie working-class holiday context the juxtaposition becomes surreal. The eye can go from a painting to the view out the back windows of a Hills Hoist washing line and backyard barbeque and from the front windows to waves rolling in as surfers carry their boards down to the sand.
If these paintings were viewed in a pristine, white walled gallery or in the lavish home of a fine art collector their placing would seem normal and not unexpected. By being found where serious art is not normally exhibited the surroundings become art. It is the opposite of found object art like Duchamp’s urinal gaining sculptural importance by being placed in a gallery.
