CONCRETE MIRRORS – Constructing Systems of Dust, is a provocative exhibition of paintings and collages, by Brisbane artist, Sharmila Nezovic. It explores the paved-over urban experience, through intensely realised, highly textured abstractions.
“I use, what I call, an ‘industrial palette’”, she says. “By directly mixing such materials as road-base crusher dust, washed builder’s sand, sawdust, shards of glass or pebbles into the oil paint itself, I feel that these art works become more authentic to the pervasiveness of the industrialised, constructed & manufactured environments I am unpacking”.
Nezovic’s artworks bring directly into play the colours, patterns, textures and detritus that surround us every-day but with a fresh stance. Sometimes a fine balance, even an elegance can be found in the textural overlays, yet at other times, she seems to plunge into the strange gritty mysteries held within the cracks, themselves. The results are filled with visual surprises.
Her works challenge us to re-contextualise our familiarity with everyday streetscapes; and remind us how their very composition reflects our contemporary humanity as they sift between beauty trauma.
This sensual, feminist exhibition presents new works that reach outside of traditional forms and nudge at our own perceptions.
Sharmila Nezovic is a Brisbane-based, conceptual artist. She holds a Master’s Degree in Creative Arts (MCA) from JCU, Queensland, which builds on her earlier art studies at the Victorian College of Arts, Melbourne, and post-graduate painting studies at the acclaimed, New York Studio School in Manhattan, USA.
Image: COMPOSITION WITH PEBBLES.102cm x 76cm.oils & mixed media on canvas. Sharmila Nezovic
