JULIUS KILLERBY | SELECTED WORKS | NORITO GALLERY
JULIUS KILLERBY WAS BORN IN PERTH IN 1995 BUT LIVES AND WORKS IN LONDON. HE HAS SHOWN AT THE VCA ART SPACE, THE ART GALLERY OF NEW SOUTH WALES, THE ART GALLERY OF BALLARAT, LUMEN GALLERY AND HAS SOLD WORK THROUGHOUT AUSTRALIA. HIS WORK FOCUSES ON THE PSYCHOLOGICAL RIPPLE EFFECTS OF CERTAIN CULTURAL AND SOCIETAL TRANSFORMATIONS. PART OF HIS ARTISTIC PRACTICE INCLUDES PORTRAITURE AND AN ATTEMPT TO, PIECE BY PIECE, SHARPEN HIS ABILITY TO CONVEY THE HUMAN CONDITION. KILLERBY COMPLETED A BACHELOR OF FINE ARTS AT THE VICTORIAN COLLEGE OF THE ARTS IN 2017 AND WAS AN ARCHIBALD FINALIST IN THE SAME YEAR, THE YOUNGEST PERSON TO ACHIEVE THIS DISTINCTION. PREVIOUS SITTERS FOR KILLERBY INCLUDE THE FORMER LORD MAYOR OF MELBOURNE, RON WALKER, PAUL LITTLE, JULIAN BURNSIDE KC, ROBERT RICHTER KC AND BRENDAN MURPHY KC.
IN MANY OF KILLERBY’S RECENT WORKS, FIGURES’ FACES ARE COVERED WITH A CLOTH, INSINUATING IMMINENT OR RECENT TORTURE. THIS SUBJECT, AND VARIATIONS OF IT, ENCAPSULATES FOR KILLERBY THAT WHICH MOST DISTINGUISHES HUMANITY − THE ABILITY TO TRANSCEND PHYSICAL INSTINCTS BASED ON ABSTRACT THOUGHT. HE ASSERTS THAT “FOR EVERY ACTION THERE IS AN EQUAL AND OPPOSITE REACTION, EXCEPT WITHIN THE REALM OF HUMAN INTERACTIONS.” THOUGH APPARENTLY SECULAR IMAGES, THESE WORKS WOULD THUS SEEM TO BELONG
TO TRADITIONS OF CHRISTIAN ICONOGRAPHY AND MARTYRDOM. THEY ARE ALSO, AS KILLERBY HIMSELF STATES, “... APT IMAGES FOR THE 21ST CENTURY.”
IN A MORE FORMAL SENSE, THE CLOTH MAKES AN ABSTRACTION OF THE FACE, BUT ONE WHICH APPLIES DIRECTLY TO THE FACIAL FEATURES OF THE SUBJECT. IN THIS WAY, KILLERBY’S WORK BALANCES THE ANONYMITY OF THE SUBJECT WITH A REPRESENTATIONAL DEPICTION OF THEM. ANONYMITY ALSO ALLOWS KILLERBY TO UNIVERSALISE THE FIGURE, PERHAPS PROMPTING THE VIEWER TO PUT THEMSELF IN THE SUBJECT’S SHOES. WHAT ALSO UNITES MUCH OF KILLERBY’S FIGURATION AND COMPOSITION IS A PYRAMIDAL STRUCTURE, WITH THE SUBJECT SOMETIMES REELING BACKWARDS AND LOOKING UPWARD, IMBUING THEM WITH A SENSE OF ASCENSION, OR PERHAPS IMMINENT ANNIHILATION. THE TITLE OF THIS NEW SERIES, ‘THE SOCIAL FABRICS’ ALSO ADDS A METAPHORICAL LAYER TO THE WORKS, AND IN THE TWISTS, FOLDS, TORSIONS AND STAINS OF THE CLOTH, KILLERBY FINDS AN ANALOGY FOR THE STATE OF SOCIETY. IT IS A CONCEPTION OF THE INDIVIDUAL AS A REFLECTION OF THE WORLD, AND AN APPROACH TO FIGURATION WHICH PRIORITISES BROADER SOCIETAL IMPLICATIONS OVER THE FEATURES OR CHARACTERISTICS OF THE SUBJECT.
