Sydney based artist Lara Merrett’s upcoming exhibition, This is not a love song (B), features a series of collage paintings that continue her exploration of colour, surface, form and texture.
Merrett’s distinctive approach to painting has situated her as an admired contemporary Australian artist. In these latest works, Merrett pushes the boundaries of her practice further by creating collage paintings made from her studio drop sheets.
Discussing the ideas behind the exhibition, she states:
“The title refers to a punk anthem from PIL (1983), my mum played the song to me when I was 12 and it was my introduction into the avant-garde and the romanticism of The Artist. This title and memory manifests in the physical action of cutting up work of romantic significance, exploring themes of nostalgia romanticism and the act of painting.”
This body of work is a counterpart to her series, This is not a love song, which is included in the upcoming Installation Contemporary 2017. Part of the Sydney Contemporary 2017 program and curated by the MCA’s Rachel Kent and Megan Robson, Merrett is presenting a large-scale site-specific artwork that responds to the unique space of Sydney’s Carriageworks.
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 in an exhibition at Artspace in Sydney, Superposition of three types, curated by Alexie Glass-Kantor and Talia Linz.
