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Neon Parc acknowledges the Wurundjeri Woi Wurrung and Bunurong Boon Wurrung as the Traditional Owners and sovereign custodians of the Country on which we operate. We pay our deepest respects to their Elders past and present. Always was, always will be Aboriginal land.

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John Spiteri
‘House Husband’
South Yarra
17 Aug.–14 Sep.
2024

Neon Parc is pleased to present ‘House Husband’ a new solo exhibition by John Spiteri in South Yarra. Spiteri’s fourth exhibition with the gallery will open on Saturday 17 August, 3-5pm and includes a series of recent paintings never seen before in Melbourne.

John Spiteri’s paintings build worlds from muted colours and subdued shapes which gently oscillate throughout the canvas. Combining earthy, bodily tones and textures, each material motif in the works builds towards a glowing cosmos. Allowing the intuitive gestures, smudges and scratches to lay bare for the viewers eye to trace, Spiteri’s process utilizes a library of mark-making.

Installation view, John Spiteri, 'House Husband', Neon Parc South Yarra, 2024.

In “Atelier Spiteri”, 2022, figurative elements begin to slink onto the canvas. The long-limbed stencil figure is taken from an earlier painting of Spiteri’s, reinforcing the body of work as iterative and self-reflexive. This motif is repeated throughout the large-scale canvas – the nymph-like body returning in different scales, orientations, but always painted with a lightness of touch. The shock of a single-file row of vomit emoji’s lays in wait, lining the canvas’ edge, mocking the subjects woven into the painterly layers of the composition and creating a witty remark on Taste.

Spiteri’s titles often grow out of overheard phrases or aphorisms which enter the vernacular for a certain period until they go out of vogue. “Broken Bongo” conjures the disjointed rhythm of an instrument in need of repair, like a sad clown. “House Husband”, “Feast & Famine”, and “Chain Smoker” are titles which ground the paintings in the real world. Spiteri humorously encourages the titles to reflect how painting is so often a conduit for humanity.

John Spiteri (b.1967, Sydney) has been making paintings, sculptures and videos since the early 1990s. Traversing the distances (great or small) between figuration and abstraction, his practice has seen a gradual shift towards non-representational painting on canvas, linen and glass. Recently, these abstract terrains have been populated by vague figures. Implementing a full index of painterly gestures, and utilising a range of tools and processes, Spiteri’s work is an ongoing, personal experiment that unpacks the many possibilities of painting production.

Spiteri’s compulsive and inventive mark-making aims to preserve the uncertainty of material outcomes, which act unpredictably in his highly idiosyncratic compositions. The tentative quality of Spiteri’s paintings activates a deep sense of discovery. The surface—layered, stripped and embellished—acquires meaning in a similarly progressive manner. Ambiguous compositions and their fictional titles revel in the slipperiness of reality.

Artworks
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Biography John Spiteri

John Spiteri completed a Master of Fine Arts at UNSW College of Fine Arts in 2001 and studied at Goldsmiths College, London in 1996 and 2002. Recent notable exhibitions include: Underfoot (2024) Te Uru, Tamaki Makaurau, New Zealand; Living Patterns (2023) Queensland Art Gallery, Brisbane; Thin Skin (2023) Monash University Museum of Art, Melbourne; Painting. More painting (2017), Australian Centre for Contemporary Art; Learning to Leave (2014), VCA Gallery, Melbourne; There’s no Time (2011), The Ian Potter Museum of Art, University of Melbourne; Negotiating this world (2013), The National Gallery of Victoria, Melbourne; and Daydream Believers (2012), Institute of Modern Art, Brisbane. Spiteri’s work has also been included in the Liverpool and Gwangju biennials. His work is held in major public and private collections including the National Gallery of Victory (NGV), Melbourne; the Museum of Contemporary Art (MCA), Sydney; and Monash University Gallery, Melbourne.