Baz Blakeney
Otherwise
26 January - 13 February 2022
G4
Opening Night
Friday 28 January | 6pm – 8pm
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Baz Blakeney paints and draws as a way of describing ideas that are not easily put into words. His pictures act as a hieroglyphic diary, a visual record of thoughts and sensations that would otherwise vanish without trace. Painting is a form of conversation and, like everyday talk, some of it is deeply thoughtful, some ironic, some comic, some absurd, some just fleeting thoughts, occasionally all in one picture.
Blakeney’s work has been described as pop, but it is not a word he is entirely comfortable with. He draws on the illustrative styles of advertising and marketing, but is also fascinated by religious iconography and renaissance portraiture. He also likes to blur the lines between artistic styles, throwing abstract expressionist gestures into a magazine-style illustration, for instance, or introducing pop symbols into a quasi-religious work.
He draws inspiration from sources as eclectic as mid-20th century advertising to pre-pop artists like Rivers and Rauschenberg, with hints of 19th century symbolism and even art nouveau. He is interested in the development of mythology in culture and enjoys drawing links between ancient folklore and religion and modern myth-making as evidenced in our celebrity hierarchy and mass media typecasting. Hopefully, his paintings speak for themselves.
About the Artist
Baz Blakeney was born on the fringes of Perth, Western Australia, the son of a lumberjack and a Bible evangelist.
He studied Graphic Design at James Street Technical College and Fine Art at Claremont School of Art, earning his Diploma of Fine Art in 1983. He exhibited at several galleries in Perth, before moving to Melbourne to pursue a dual career as a painter and journalist.
He worked as a reporter, editor, columnist and arts reviewer for newspapers and magazines in Melbourne, Sydney and London, while devoting most of his available time to his first love, painting. After returning to Australia from Britain, he exhibited at Kozminsky Gallery in Melbourne and Jackman Gallery in St Kilda and is now showing at Red Gallery.
His work is in collections in Britain, the United States, New Zealand and Asia and has been used to illustrate record album covers and a book of collected works by celebrated English playwright Joe Penhall
Artwork for sale
Contact
Phone : (03) 9482 3550
mail@redgallery.com.au
Address
157 St Georges Rd
Fitzroy North, Victoria, 3068
Map
How to get here
Tram: route 11
Stop 21 just north of Edinburgh Gardens
Melway ref: 30B12
Parking in nearby streets
Bus: 504 (Reid Street)
