The Authentic More

The rheological properties of The "Authentic More" work on paper that was accepted as a finalist entry into the Darebin Art prize was part of an extended and continuing research project consisting of approximately 200 studio works about the relationship between figuration, portraiture and abstraction. The work intends to contribute to the continuing history search for identity and cultural relevance in visual art. The pun in the title refers to notions of authenticity, honesty, excess, relevance and the use of the figure of the Moor in historical painting. The figure of the African Moor was prevalent in the 16th and 18th, centuries, for example in El Greco's "Adoration of the Magi "1567-70 or Tieapolo's -" The Banquet of Anthony and Cleopatra"1774, housed in the NGV of Melbourne and are examples of the outsider as a cultural figure in grand allegorical history paintings. The research I have completed both through reading and in the studio has been how to re-situate historical painting motifs in a contemporary context. The use of the deliberate accident through the uses of paint spills and mixed media seek to contexulise this notion of portraiture of both the other (and the self) with the use of abstraction in biomorphic paintings, like those done by Dale Frank such as He was fading away in front of our eyes, so I suggested a spin in the Jaguar, 2014varnish on canvas220 × 220cm. The research in my work is relevant in its engagement with my desire for my art practice to connect to the subconscious, which is riddled with hidden and submerged historical readings. Placed in the context of this major annual exhibition, which is peer reviewed by the judges I am situating this example of my research in widely viewed public survey of contemporary art.