Lara Merrett: Flip side

Lara Merrett’s exhibition, Flip side, reveals an intimate, intuitive and playful approach to painting. It features delicately layered and coloured works that evoke a sense of depth and translucency.

Merrett produced these new works using acrylic based inks on canvas, and at a smaller scale than her recent larger installations, these allow for a more intimate approach. She researched the writings of artists, Agnes Martin and Anne Truitt, who provided inspiration on why humans have the need to create, and how this plays out in daily life. She found additional insight in Marcel Proust’s text,In search of lost time , which compelled her to question how we make observations and hold memories.

“Each work in a way becomes a self-portrait, mapping thought patterns, memory, and rhythms, all the while thinking about the romantic use of colour that attaches itself to a memory. There is also a delicacy and fragility to these works and an attempt to capture a moment that passes. Time spent in close observation and connection to the work, creating space for daydreams and thoughts.

The idea of the strongest memories being triggered through smell and sound made me attempt to put memory in colour.”

ABOUT THE ARTIST

Merrett has exhibited extensively nationally as well as undertaken projects internationally. Her work is held in numerous private and public collections, including the University of New South Wales, Artbank, Macquarie Bank, Sofitel Hotel and UBS. She was recently commissioned by The University of Queensland Art Museum to produce, High Stakes , a two-part project beginning with a temporary outdoor studio residency and culminating with a large installation inside the museum, which will be exhibited from July to December 2019.