WET and DRY Paintings by JOS MYERS
7th - 20th December, 1998 at  ACCENT FINE ARTS GALLERY
Reviewed by Andrew David

Jos Myers' exhibition is filled with the vibrancy and colour of Western Australia.  From the beach to the outback, these twin aspects of the WA lifestyle are viewed.  Beach bums and horny dingoes are mixed with Italian migrant portraits and footy players.  The comic 'Picassoesque' figures move, twist and wriggle on the stunningly coloured canvases.  It is the colour of the images that initially draw you in.  Swanbourne to Rotto and Dingo Heaven show a richness and joy in the use of colour.

Myers is a woman very happy in her life right now and she delights in images of women, whose shapes she distorts beautifully in Mum's Got a Fat Bum and the tone of motherhood is strong in some of the portraits, particularly Two Cats and a Sausage Dog, a most interesting family gathering.She shows worry for man's treatment of animals but there are no questions being asked here, no torture however there is a cunning and observed sense of humour.  Dingoes look at the viewer with a mixture of contempt and amusement and there people drowning at the beach whilst couples have sex in the sea.

A number of the images lack any kind of emotion, however the one painting that does display feeling is not part of the exhibition.  Without name or number, this dark and moody image sits alone on an easel quite separate from the rest of the exhibits.

If you are looking for an exhibition to stimulate on a subversive, intellectual level then this is not the place to come.  However, if you are looking for a  light, beautifully coloured conversation with a someone whose paintings are full of the joys of motherhood (even the 'housey' gallery adds to the 'woman painting at home' image) and the Western Australian lifestyle, then this exhibition is to be seen.
 


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