Julie Fragar makes paintings about the stories we tell, simultaneously chronicling and critically analysing her chosen subjects. Bringing a unique level of psychological enquiry to the activity of painting, Fragar’s practice brings into focus the slippery relationship between reality and fiction. Through her unique language and remarkable aptitude as a painter, Fragar blends intense studies of social politics with biographical detail and personal speculation into vivid figurative and textual imagery. Often superimposing fragments from disparate sources, Fragar’s is a careful process of selection, editing and obfuscation that interprets the glut and vastness of post-internet connection through her own experiences, memories and associations.
Biograph is the first career survey of Fragar’s work. Mapping more than twenty years of practice, the exhibition assembles key works made between 1998 and 2021, including some previously unexhibited. The survey is arranged according to key ongoing themes for the artist, including biography, memory, identity and narrative.
This exhibition contains adult content. Visitor discretion is advised.
Opening event: 3pm, Saturday 4 March 2023
Julie Fragar in conversation with Rosemary Hawker: 11am, Saturday 15 April 2023
Image: Julie Fragar The Single Bed (detail) 2017. Oil on board, 135 x 100cm. Collection of Griffith University Art Museum. Purchased 2017. Photo: Carl Warner.
