Description
These works have been made before or alongside participants in the Art Tour to Palermo, and here in Melbourne, whilst teaching painting.
Creating these paintings has happened at a really interesting time for me, when my approach to my own work has been shifting – I have been thinking through some things that I’m doing in my own studio. Every painting I make builds on the last one, a kind of built in repetition, whether it’s the motifs or compositional shapes. Most of the paintings share the same objects or are the same size, so they register as a series. Working in a series solves the problem of what to paint, enabling me to explore differences in process, how to apply the paint, and how to approach the making. I might discover something that I didn’t fully realize or can’t articulate until I’ve worked through it in various iterations. Each painting has a different character according to lighting, colour, texture and formal configuration. They are my gateway into a more expressive painterly language – my approach to a looser style.
The title Stop the Clock, refers to the way a still life can appear to make time stand still. The play of light on a jug will remain the same forever – counteracting the frenzied speed of life online. It is this stillness that is an invitation to turn inwards and search for meaning and value in the physical, the unadorned and the everyday.
– Cally Lotz, 2024
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Melbourne-based artist Cally Lotz is primarily known for her still-life oil paintings. She is a formalist who values perceptual experiences and the visual strengths of the genre more than symbolism or content. Located within the realm of representation, her current work is focused more on disruption than transcription and still life’s association with the beginnings of modernism and abstraction.
Cally Lotz completed an MFA (with Higher Distinction) in 2019 at RMIT Melbourne, a BVA (Hons) at The University of South Africa (UNISA), and attended Bath Academy of Art in the UK. Her work has been exhibited in South Africa, Germany, India and Australia. She has been the recipient of numerous residencies including Sandbox Studios Melbourne 2019-2020, AIR Vallauris France 2017, and St Vincent’s Melbourne 2014-2015. Her work is held in public collections including Sasol and UNISA in South Africa, and St Vincent’s in Melbourne.
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October 24 – November 23 2024
Opening Reception: Thursday, 31st of October, 6 – 8 pm
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