The Scene

Geoff Newton

Gertrude Contemporary was delighted to announce a solo exhibition by Melbourne based artist and curator Geoff Newton.

Newton’s practice is emblematic of the 21st century artist whose cross-disciplinary practice allows him to work in various mediums including painting, collage, sound and performance. He also works collaboratively with other artists, producing a dynamic, self-reflexive and multi-faceted body of work.

For this exhibition Newton presented eight large scale paintings that depicted the immediate vista as seen from the front entrance of each state gallery in Australia.The group of paintings, collectively titled The Scene, are a series of seemingly formal paintings that test the threshold between each Australian State and its major collecting institution.

The works pointedly question the extent of exchange that occurs between the public sphere and the institutions collecting and exhibiting policies.The series also inhabits the threshold between contemporanaity picturing a fleeting moment in the present day, and the potential for its historicisation as part of the museum collection.

Painted in almost psychedelic hues, the work is more than institutional critique, presenting a formal, experimental and painterly approach that sets this works on a unique stylistic trajectory. This remarkable series of works offers a canny and incisive perspective, operating as both homage to place and site,as well as providing an open ended commentary on Australia’s cultural landscape.

Geoff Newton has been exhibiting in commercial and artist run spaces since 1999. Recent solo exhibitions include
Big Time,TCB Arts Inc, 2012, Geoff Newton / Kate Smith, Sutton project space,2011,French Dressing,The Physics Room, Christchurch and Studio Tan, Gertrude Contemporary, Melbourne, 2010. Recent group exhibitions include Melbourne Now, National Gallery of Victoria, The Knock Off Show, Slopes, and Extended Operations, Kalimanrawlins, all 2013. His workis held in private and corporate collections in Australia and overseas.

This project is supported by the Australia Council for the Arts.