Preparations are underway for our winter program of two irresistible exhibitions ‘eX de Medici: Beautiful Wickedness’ and ‘Michael Zavros: The Favourite’, presented side by side at the Gallery of Modern Art (GOMA) in Brisbane until 2 October 2023. Focused on the practice of two highly regarded mid-career Australian artists, these exhibitions offer opportunities for unique dialogue and appreciation of the differences and similarities between the work of de Medici and Zavros.
Offering different viewing experiences, both artists are engaged in representation and share an interest in the tradition of still life painting. de Medici’s extraordinarily layered works reveal the artist’s ongoing concern with the value and fragility of life, global affairs, greed, commerce, conflict and death; while ‘The Favourite’ looks at Zavros’s recurring thematic interests: his idealised and compelling images exploring the nature and culture of beauty, inspired by fashion magazines, European palaces, luxury cars, his children, and the still life.
eX de Medici
‘Beautiful Wickedness’ will be the most significant exhibition of work by celebrated Australian artist eX de Medici yet staged. An avowed environmentalist and activist, she is dedicated to uncloaking abuses of power and revealing their effects on ordinary and everyday lives, highlighting the excesses of global capitalism. Through a wide-range of subjects and materials, de Medici aims to seduce her viewers, and to shake them out of complacency.
Michael Zavros
Known for his extraordinary technical prowess over 25 years of painting, sculpture, photography and video, Michael Zavros has captivated audiences with his sumptuous realist renderings and surreal juxtapositions. Frequently engrossed in notions of quality and luxury, fashion and appearance, Zavros’s idealised imagery has developed alongside Australia’s pronounced turn to conspicuous consumption and aspirational individualism.
Immerse yourself in an irresistible contemporary art experience, see more than 200 artworks in two major retrospectives from leading Australian artists.
‘eX de Medici: Beautiful Wickedness’ in Gallery 1.2 and 1.3 (Eric and Marion Taylor Gallery) was presented in the adjacent gallery to ‘Michael Zavros: The Favourite‘ in 1.1 (The Fairfax Gallery) and 1.2 at the Gallery of Modern Art (GOMA) from 24 June to 2 October 2023.
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