July 18, 2014
A smaller than usual crowd braved cold, wet weather to attend the official opening of the Kingaroy Art Gallery’s June exhibition last Friday night.
The centrepiece of this month’s show is a large collection of recent paintings by Wilkesdale artist Lee Brewer, whose artwork was last seen at the Gallery in April 2013.
Lee signs all his works “Anon” because he believes that knowing who created an artwork can affect the way a viewer sees it.
Lee originally took up art as a hobby in 2007, but says he soon began to take it more seriously.
He had his first exhibition at the Kingaroy Art Gallery in 2011, then “locked himself away” for two years to develop his technique and “find his voice”.
This month – for his third exhibition – the Gallery has given his large, colourful canvasses centre stage.
Lee is currently focussing on “drip painting”, an abstract style first popularised by American artist Jackson Pollock (of “Blue Poles” fame) in the 1950s.
The end result is that all of his canvasses are unique.
Gallery curator Fiona Kemp said reactions from visitors since the exhibition opened at the start of the month had been “overwhelmingly positive”.
“In fact, a member of our Gallery’s staff purchased one of Lee’s paintings the day we mounted the paintings.”
“It’s a fabulous show.”
Gallery assistant curator Wayne Brown agreed.
“You could find a broadly similar style in some high-end interior design stores that sell framed art prints,” he said.
“The difference is that these are all original works; each is a one-of-a-kind artwork; and they cost roughly the same.”
This month the Gallery is also showing a smaller collection of new pastel, watercolour and mixed media artworks by the Monday Morning Ladies Art Group (Joy Carter, Trish Erkens, Dot Rowland, Annie McBride and Catherine Woodham) in Galley Three.
The Booie Spinners Group has a display of hand-crafted clothing in the Youth Gallery; and landscapes from the South Burnett Regional Council’s permanent collection are on display in the rear gallery.
- The current exhibition will remain on display at the Gallery next to the Kingaroy Visitor Information Centre in Haly Street in from 9:00am to 4:30pm Monday to Friday, and 10:00am to 4:00pm on weekends, until June 28.
