October 25 - November 23, 2019
<bralign="left">Emily Hartley-Skudder's second solo project at Jonathan Smart Gallery is called Lollygagger. Are we to gag on the lolly here, on the sweetest of still-life painting almost overwhelmed by a kitsch framing sublime (alongside the nostalgia for old fashioned confectionary suggested by titles like Ka-Bluey and Gobstopper)?
No, let's not. Let's enjoy the conflation of cosmetic, rubber, plastic and chrome. Admire the rendering of objects domestic and often feminine. And relish the artful play between the fancifully small and the overblown potential of pump-action.
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What is real here is Hartley-Skudder's ability with paint, combined with her penchant for interior décor, not simply domestic but increasingly of the bathroom and bedroom. Things feel lovingly artificial and cosmetic, while the droll humour of Lilac Low-Suds and Sparkling Duet is both delightful and absolutely engaging.
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The gag is deliberate and the look lolly. However, the attitude and the practice is totally and wonderfully committed. The gallery as showroom is complete - porcelain, plastic and taps. A New Look! Gentle on Hands and Everything They Wash - fresh and re-configured from the Gus Fisher Gallery's re-opening group exhibition in April, We're Not Too Big To Care, enlivens the back space. It's all about orange elephant-head bathroom-ware from China. Life is replete.
JS
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Please hover over image to see title...
List of works
Front Gallery
The Fresh Maker, 2019
polyethylene foam on aluminium composite panel, oil on linen, aluminium and copper trim
720 x 1020mm
Golden Strawb Spritzer, 2019
polyethylene foam on aluminium composite panel, oil on linen, mirrored acrylic, aluminium trim
800 x800mm
Lilac Low-Suds, 2019
3D vinyl on aluminium composite panel, oil on linen, aluminium trim
490 x 790mm
Sparkling Duet, 2019
3D vinyl on aluminium composite panel, oil on linen, found towel holder, digital sublimation print on microfibre, aluminium trim 680 x 570mm
Ka-Bluey, 2019
polyethylene foam on aluminium composite panel, oil on linen, digital sublimation print on microfibre, aluminium and copper trim 600 x 620mm
Gobstopper, 2019
polyethylene foam on aluminium composite panel, oil on linen, aluminium trim
600 x 1190mm
Back Gallery
New Look! Gentle on Hands and Everything They Wash, 2019
readymade ceramic basins, oil on linen, gesso and enamel on pine frames, digital sublimation print on microfibre, PVC pipes
painting I (290 x 390mm fr) with basin & towel
painting II (290 x 390mm fr) with basin & towel
painting III (290 x 390mm fr) with basin & towel
Gentle on Hands (diamond) 450 x 350mm fr
Emily applying the finishing touches to Gobstopper prior to installing
Emily & Hamish preparing the basins for the installation of Gentle on Hands...