20 July – 13 August 2022
Opening Event Wednesday 20 July from 5:30pm – Opening address by Dr Annie Geard.
Despard Gallery is pleased to host a joint exhibition by artists Anne-France Fulgence & Michael Nay.
Uniting the two very different approaches of Nay and Fulgence is a mutual regard for paint, specifically as a robust vehicle to unpack various aspects of Australian society. This includes creating a unique space where the revered, overlooked and misunderstood fragments of our culture visually collide. Through a combination of candid, familiar and informal imagery, which is then translated through a delicate handling of paint, Nay and Fulgence merge the high and the low, allowing its complex relationship to be observed.
Anne-France Fulgence’s practice centres on capturing the wildness of nature, completing a gritty new series of hunting dog portraits. In contrast to their fierce and larger than life presence, is a sensitive handling of paint, revealing a hidden tender side of each dog. As such, Fulgence explores the unequivocal bond that underpins the alliance of animal and human behaviours, each portrait adopting a symbolic role that reflects on universal instincts of mortality, companionship and passion. The work of Michael Nay extends on the traditional themes of still life, domestic interiors and urban landscapes, using paint to translate collaged based compositions. Overlaying autobiographical elements with popular imagery and historical photographs, Nay creates complex allegorical narratives that explore the fusing of personal and social histories and the workings of memory. Nay’s paintings challenge the logic of pictorial narratives and how easily the past and present become intertwined.
