The young ones

Fuelled by an interest in aspects of caricature and cartoon iconography, The Young Ones suggests an aging population still maintaining the lifestyle of their youth. By 2101, people over the age of 65 will outnumber Australian youth (15 to 24 years of age) by three to one. Youth will no longer be the majority and youth culture will be redundant as a corporate target market. Instead of being shunned and hidden like the portrait of Dorian Gray, billboards and magazines will be graced with the florid lines and speckles of elderly skin. Wrinkles, liver spots and melanomas will become a kind of future fashion aesthetic of body adornment. Drawing on photographic sources, The Young Ones reveals a hybrid portrait wherein sagging skin and wrinkles become exaggerated into the decorative and baroque. Floor talk by the artist. Megan Backhouse, 'Art around the galleries', The Age: A2, 26 July 2008: 10. 'Fitzroy', Trouble, July 2008: 17. 'Fitzroy', Trouble, August 2008: 17. 'Melbourne', Art Gallery Guide, July/August 2008: lift-out.