MINE OWN EXECUTIONER
19th October - 11th November, 2001 at MUNDARING ARTS CENTRE
Reviewed by Judith McGrath

In it's seventh incarnation, this annual show seems firmly established in the visual art calendar and is appreciated by many. Most viewers come along expecting to see a collection of head and shoulder images of the artist, while some attend for voyeuristic reasons, hoping to see either insecurities laid bare or egos put forward. Over the years, it's all been here.

This year there's a nice mix of figurative and non-figurative works to remind us that each individual is defined by how we identify ourselves and value who we are, not how others see us. Here we have inner portraits as well as outward appearances, all highly engaging for their fine presentation.

Richie Kuhaupt identifies the individual self as being a link in a chain. His fibreglass Self portrait, mother and child is a fine life-size portrait of a pregnant woman, which we are free to define as mother, wife or daughter. We are all part of another, a family, a community, it is what defines our 'self'. Julie Dowling certainly understands this as her Self Portrait reveals how when robbed of family, people and culture you have a confused sense of the real self. Perhaps this is why she depicts herself as a mythical saint.

Just looking in a mirror isn't enough for Melissa McDougall so she surrounds her reflected image with objects that mean something to her. Tulip fever suggests we are not welcome in the artist's own private place as she puts barriers between subject and viewer and avoids our gaze. Surprisingly Bevan Honey's Another doodle in a black skivvy reveals a great deal. We discover eyes peering out of the black scribble that forms a volumetric silhouette of a man in a roll neck jumper. I don't know if a likeness is captured, but I can see light-heartedness and heavy duty ability with a simple drawing tool.

Jeremy Kirwan-Ward's Self portrait, closer look presents a horizontal rectangle in warm sensuous hues with a little something else. It reminds us that what we see is not always what we get. Sometimes there are more interesting things to see if we make the effort to look more carefully. We have to look with care at Painting #82 by Lisa Wolfgramm if we want to keep our balance. This illusion of swirling, fluid movement in reds and white suggests pulsating living tissue or maybe it's showing us the artist has paint in the blood.

Every one of these exhibits are strong and satisfying works of art, albeit for different reasons making this a successful, and revealing show of individuals.

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