James Lynch Always in our thoughts
Michael Lett
5 August - 5 September 2009
Preview Wednesday 5 August 2009 6-8pm
Tuesday-Friday 11am-6pm
Saturday 11am-3pm
Michael Lett is pleased to present Always in our thoughts, an exhibition of new work by Melbourne-based artist James
Lynch.
For Always in our thoughts Lynch has completed a series of paintings, each one depicting a significant occasion from his
(recent) past that continues to hold resonance in his day-to-day thoughts. Using found imagery and photography Lynch
faithfully recreates these memories in his studio as tableaux. Once photographed, the scenarios are painted with oil and
spray enamel using an eclectic combination of styles and techniques. Seams, bled edges, silhouettes and reflections
depict spaces that are filled with contrasting imagery, interactions and activities and are readily open to free
association and various further retellings.
Recalling a diverse range of references, including amateur still lives, 19th century dioramas, miniatures, cell
animation, history painting and grunge, this collection of paintings seem to have been unearthed from another era. Lynch
describes these paintings as being as much dedications to the values of resilience, challenging authority, civil unrest
and remembering as they are representations.
Accompanying these paintings are a collection of furniture-based sculptures: a wardrobe sourced from Trade Me painted in
camouflage and a chair burnt almost beyond recognition. Powerfully symbolic, these objects link the paintings to the
messy surrounds of domestic interiors, pulling them away from the formality of the gallery toward the expectations,
struggles, rituals and chance encounters that make up everyday life.
James Lynch was born in Melbourne in 1974. Since graduating from the Victorian College of the Arts in 1996 he has
founded both the groundbreaking group Damp in 1995 and Rubik, a fanzine style publishing and curatorial project running
from 1998 to 2003 (Room 3, 2000 and The Physics Room, 2001). Lynch was also a founding member of TCB gallery and a
contributing editor of Natural Selection magazine.
Lynch has exhibited in solo and group exhibitions both within Australia and abroad. Recent exhibitions include: I walk
the line: New Australian drawing, Museum of Contemporary Art, Sydney (2009); Lost and Found: an archaeology of the
present, 2nd Tarrawarra Biennale, Tarrawarra Museum of Art, Victoria; Circle of friends, Art Gallery of Western
Australia, Perth (2008); The drunken soldier and other melodies, Tokyo Wonder Site, Tokyo (2007); Anne Landa Award for
video and new media arts, Art Gallery of New South Wales, Sydney (2006); A Short Ride in a Fast Machine, the 20-year
anniversary exhibition of Gertrude Contemporary Art Spaces, Melbourne; New05, Australian Centre for Contemporary Art,
Melbourne (2005); Le Grande Café, Galerie Frank Elbaz, Paris (2004). Always in our thoughts will be Lynch's first solo
exhibition in New Zealand.
ends