METRO ARTS // GALLERIES

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Chief Executive Offi cer:

Liz Burcham

Co-ordinator, Programming (Visual Arts):

Channon Goodwin

IMAGES

All images and photography by Gerwyn Davies

GALLERIES PROGRAM 2012

50FT McQUEENIEBY GERWYN DAVIES

9–26 MAY

Metro Arts acknowledges the assistance of the Queensland Government through Arts Queensland.

METRO ARTS PARTNER

50FT McQUEENIE

GERWYN DAVIES

In the series 50ft McQueenie (2011) Gerwyn Davies plays the role of artist, photographer and costume designer. Davies employs and blends various image making practices to his advantage. Through utilising different photographic and visual mediums he creates a personal freedom within his practice, which aims to disarm conventional barriers of genres.

“I completely embrace the fusion of art and advertising in some of my work because the shiny veneer of advertising really allows you to enhance this fantasy and desire. I believe creating this work on that edge offers a much greater degree of fl exibility.” (DAVIES, 2012)

50ft McQueenie developed from Davies’ interest in non–fi gurative fashion and costume. The construction of these costumes based on fantasy allowed the wearer to adopt new physical and mental forms, similar to taking on virtual identities or taking part in cosplay. The photographic series allowed Davies to create varied alter egos, through the use of materials. His costumes personify characters, and the sitters themselves become the objects; the costumes an external skin, based on Davies’ own fantasy world. The fabricated characters are inspired by archetypal, antiquated professions and could be seen as fi gures in a deck of playing or tarot cards. The images result in a historical, yet futuristic re–interpretation.

Each of the characters were created based on the materials Davies sourced. Drawing inspiration from the various textiles, Davies created characters with personalities that were derived from the symbolism he drew from each of the tactile sources. The beast–like characters were formed with varied intent and utilising assorted sensory tools. One of the key visual tropes Davies used in this series was the veiling and masking the sitter within the costume. This form of enigmatic defacing allowed the costumes to have a greater sense of presence. The amount of veiling versus visibility varied, depending on the costumes intended character. Thus allowing the costumes to differ from more fi gurative and human–like, to something more bestial and abstract.

The materials, visually and conceptually, played the leading role as instigator behind the characters. The inferences suggested by the textiles led to the creation of archetypal characters, their identities formed by the symbolism of the fabrics and fi bres used and not by the wearer. The Madame is constructed from red lace, with the subject’s eyes left visible, gazing upwards and a hand which disperses a hazy cloud of

fl our over the image from a large powder puff. The character sits proud and slightly defi ant in the space, despite being silenced by the material obscuring the mouth. Davies created this character in response to the red lace and its erotic and sensual implications, which led to him to associate the material with brothels, thereby creating the character of The Madame.

The gestures of the characters project different levels of power. The Bankers’ tightly clenched fi st, fi rmly placed on the table and The Crier’s raised arm sit in contrast to The Peasant who appears to be tangled in grey wool. The Crier and The Virgin stand out from the series, as they were constructed from found materials, such as book pages and dried fl owers which gave them a more fashion–like appearance. Similarly they contain more of a human presence because they are less obscured and hold more of a human–shape. The Harlequin is the most obvious interpretation of the series, due to the archetypal fi gure being the most recognisable in shape and dress, and the least abstract. Likewise The Sister with her hands in shackles and dressed in all white seems all too human, her costume’s iconographic imagery is less abstract, the increased visibility of the sitter becomes a key feature of the costume. In contrast to these more fi gurative images sit The Butcher, The Banker and The Soothsayer which have no human presence in the image or little at all creating a diverse yet united visual language within the series.

As a result of the different veiling strategies and the utilisation of a variety of materials Davies’ alter egos create a powerful presence in the space they sit. A fantasy world of desire, translated into a personal narrative.

SANCINTYA SIMPSON

GERWYN DAVIES: 50FT McQUEENIE

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