I was crawling the art galleries of Flinders Lane and going, meh, at the bland exhibitions when I came to 45 Downstairs. “Well, this is definitely a thing,” I said to Catherine, reserving my judgment until I could further assess the eye-popping sight of the exhibitions of Ives and Rhodes.
The first thing I thought about “Chained to an Idiot – Paintings, drawings and sculpture by Stephen (Stefano) Ives” was that it looked like something out of Heavy Metal, an American science fiction magazine that some of my slightly older friends used to read. I guess it was the number of naked breasts, along with the intensity of details and apocalyptic styling, that gave me that impression. (I was amazed to learn Heavy Metal ceased publication in 2023, like discovering the last dinosaur just died).
Ives usually exhibits at the Beinart Gallery in Brunswick, but his paintings were nicely paired with the equally surreal and fantastic paintings of Melbourne-based artist and interior designer Katrina Rhodes.
Rhodes’s exhibition, “Prescription windows and magic beans”, is full of mock-baroque surreal images. What are they trying to say? Why are there blue squares on their inscrutable faces? What is the point of the anachronisms in the paintings? There is no way into the transparent boxes around the heads of the isolated individuals in her paintings. Is this all elaborate obfuscation and mystery-mongering, hoping the viewer will reach some conclusion the artist lacks?
Perhaps the elaborate frames with sections of different varnishes and gilding, the roped-off mantlepiece, and the high-backed armchair with cushions to match the painting were some of the best parts of the exhibition. They presented an image of impressive opulence and quality without any function.
Catherine was taking photographs of me observing art, like the Vedic definition of consciousness of two birds, one bird watching another bird eating fruit. So this is what I look like looking at art: standing back and surveying the work before striding in for a closer look. Next, I take a few photos of the installation and individual works before returning to research the artist and consider the images some more. My final opinion: ‘meh’, three-stars.
Black Mark 