Peter Maloney
TO AUSTRALIA ! 1st - 29th April, 2017
Peter Maloney
© Utopia Art Sydney
TO AUSTRALIA! Following some years of making luminous paintings matched with absurd, near hysterical texts, Maloney has reached for freedom in this body of works by reverting to his origins of black and white and a reductive palette. One constant in this evolution has been his enlargement of tiny original drawings using the archaic technologies of photocopier, tracing and hand painted line. The original drawings for these paintings are no more than doodles, executed from a hospital bed, a situation that precluded the artist from working on a larger scale. The paintings relate to the body, pathology and the fragility of life. His line reflects the body’s fluctuating levels of operative security, as well as internal organic functions. These linear compositions, centrally located on black backgrounds, possess an almost ghost like aura, evoking medical scans and the architecture of internal circulatory systems. Maloney contends that these new paintings position his practice with one foot in Modernism with the other firmly planted in current conditions. His linear structures don’t playfully skirt the edge of the canvas but hover within, never seeming to react to the edge..... buoyant, upright and appearing almost sentient.
From a distance the black backgrounds appear like voids, however, closer inspection reveals a variety of painterly finishes which invite closer examination. The artist has dragged matt black paint over glossier surfaces, “avoiding a void�, allowing the lines to both hover above the surface and at times appearing to be carved into a solid support. Maloney has spoken of the fact that he was present, in utero, when his mother watched the first British atomic test in the north of Western Australia in 1952 from the verandah of the family home. The possibility that he was a witness to this catastrophic event via a form of x-ray is materialised in his recent works on paper. Lines depicted on metallic paint contain his vision of this explosive energy. This Imperial contempt for the island Australians call home is currently re-ignited as the privileged few ban and banish the needy.
Nocturnal Flash, 2016, acrylic on metal paint on paper, 76 x 56 cm
Liberated Zone, 2016, acrylic on metal paint on paper, 76 x 56 cm
La AraĂąa, 2017, acrylic on metal paint on paper, 76 x 56 cm
Hurricane Hold #2, 2015, acrylic on metal paint on paper, 76 x 56 cm
Panic Plague, 2016, acrylic on metal paint on paper, 76 x 56 cm
Hurricane Flash, 2016, acrylic on metal paint on paper, 76 x 56 cm
Doom, 2016, acrylic on metal paint on paper, 76 x 56 cm
TO AUSTRALIA!, 2017, acrylic on metal paint on paper, 76 x 56 cm
Grown Whole, 2016, acrylic on metal paint on paper, 76 x 56 cm
Expect a Fountain, 2016, acrylic on metal paint on paper, 76 x 56 cm
These Men, 2016, acrylic, metal paint on paper, 76 x 56 cm
Stairwell to Infinity, 2016, acrylic on canvas, 124 x 90 cm
Ethiopia, 2016, acrylic on canvas, 124 x 90 cm
Sierra Leone, 2016, acrylic on canvas, 124 x 90 cm
Africa, 2016, acrylic on canvas, 124 x 90 cm
Corsica, 2016, acrylic on canvas, 124 x 90 cm
Linguizzetta, 2016, acrylic on canvas, 124 x 90 cm
Turk Tree, 2016, acrylic on canvas, 124 x 90 cm
Genie of San Andreas, 2016, acrylic on canvas, 124 x 90 cm
After Jowalbinna Rain, 2016, acrylic on canvas, 124 x 90 cm
Over Under, 2016, acrylic on canvas, 124 x 90 cm
The Sheerest Void, 2016, acrylic on canvas, 124 x 90 cm
Transcendental Puta, 2016, acrylic, metal paint on canvas, 84 x 60 cm
Mark Tobey’s Moons, 2016, acrylic, metal paint on canvas, 84 x 60 cm
Kolkata, 2016, acrylic, metal paint on canvas, 84 x 60 cm
Genie of the Salvation Army, 2016, acrylic, metal paint on canvas, 84 x 60 cm
Untitled, 2016, acrylic, metal paint on paper, 100 x 66 cm
Untitled, 2016, acrylic, metal paint on paper, 100 x 66 cm
Slave, 2016, pencil, acrylic, metal paint on canvas, 70 x 55 cm
TO AUSTRALIA! 1st - 29th April, 2017
Peter Maloney
Utopia Art Sydney 72 Henderson Rd Alexandria NSW 2015 Telephone: + 61 2 9699 2900 email: art@utopiaartsydney.com.au www.utopiaartsydney.com.au @ Utopia Art Sydney
Utopia Art Sydney 72 Henderson Rd Alexandria NSW 2015 Telephone: + 61 2 9699 2900 email: art@utopiaartsydney.com.au www.utopiaartsydney.com.au @ Utopia Art Sydney