Colour, nostalgia and a slew of recognisable imagery collide in an exhibition of new work by emerging Mornington Peninsula artist Darren Doye, currently in its final week at Cheltenham’s Without Pier Gallery.
Combining paintings, woodblock prints and the occasional LED skipping rope, the collection continues Doye’s fascination with the push and pull of modern urban Australia with the rural setting he grew up in.
Throughout the exhibition Doye plays with iconic Melbourne landmarks such as Abbotsford’s neon Skipping Girl to explore the city’s modernised future as urban sprawl encroaches into formerly industrial outer suburbs and regional fringes.
“In this painting Darren rotated images of these iconic buildings reflect how the use of the space has been flipped from something working class into something yuppie-friendly and prestigious,” gallery director Terry Earle explained.
Such a move might be brave given the likely audience might be largely compromised of discerning inner-city professionals, but Doye ensures the gentle satire of his work is playfully presented and accessible rather than alienating.
Doye’s yearning for a nostalgic past continues through a series of paintings focussed on the humble old Kombi Van. While many Kombi’s today might be found clapped out and rusting away in backyards and paddocks around the country, Doye’s paintings revive they are revived in day-glo colours and patterns. Elsewhere, he sets Melbourne’s inner-city streetscapes against the image of cow-filled paddocks, reiterating the absurd contradictions of modern Australian identity and the metaphorical, and literal, incursion of urban sprawl into more idyllic pastures.
Melbourne & Australian Icons – paintings and woodblock prints
Continues until August 31
Without Pier Gallery, 320 Bay Rd Cheltenham
