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.
Maria Kozic, Darren Sylvester ‘Maria Kozic x Darren Sylvester’
Brunswick
3 Feb.–4 Mar.2023
Neon Parc is excited to announce a two person exhibition of recent and historical works by Maria Kozic and Darren Sylvester. A curated selection of photographic, painted and sculptural works, the exhibition offers a rare opportunity to compare and contrast each artists’ methodology, as their works each separately navigate ideas of the Self, transformation and popular culture.
Installation view, Maria Kozic x Darren Sylvester, Neon Parc Brunswick, 2023.
Maria Kozic’s historical works in the exhibition take cues from cinema, Art History and advertising. First exhibited in 1999, ‘Calendar Girls’ is a suite of twelve large-scale portraits of women whose projected expressions of carefree confidence and beauty masked a darker backdrop. Yet upon closer inspection, each of the models bare secret mishaps, injuries and scars. In ‘Miss March’ (1999), a female face fills the large canvas, half grinning, despite three large scars wriggling across her otherwise flawless skin. ‘Miss March’ is based on a newspaper clipping, telling the story of a model who had had her face slashed by an obsessed male admirer who couldn’t handle her rejection.
In ‘Just Death is True’ (2007), by Darren Sylvester, a sleepy eyed brunette covered in a bright blue face mask stares blankly out of the picture plane. The aphorism-like title hints at the lightness of the composition, which could easily be read as straightforward advertising, yet if read as a caption, one might suggest the sales pitch is for self-administered euthanasia, not the pursuit of reduced wrinkles. Sylvester has always been interested in the ways and means by which contemporary media structures and manufactures subjectivity, yet in his extremely orchestrated scenarios, he mimics the core features of contemporary commodity imagery production.
In addition to wall-based works by both artists are the installations ‘The Fly’ (1985) by Maria Kozic and ‘Sausage Biscuit’ (2017) and two mirror polished steel Ouija boards from 2019 by Darren Sylvester.
