Artists are playing with the past at the Left Hand.
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Re-imaginings of well-known artwork by several local artists are currently on display at the gallery.
“It comes out of the long tradition of artists taking art by people they admire from the past and often doing copies or inspiration or as a launching point for their own work,” owner of The Left Hand Julian Davies said.
Painter Kate Stevens has contributed a re-imagining of Leonardo da Vinci’s The Last Supper.
A 2012 collaboration with a friend, the painting is a modern reworking of the famous meal. The pair formed the idea together in Berlin and photoshopped an image, which Ms Stevens rendered in oils complete with graffiti from industrial areas where they had been working.
Constant reworkings of the original image throw up compelling new material, says Ms Stevens, who credits the centuries of interest to the rich material of friendship and betrayal.
“The painting itself, because it’s a really interesting format, all straight along on the table with everybody facing the viewer, and it really brings the viewer in,” Ms Stevens said. “It’s such a simple sort of way of conveying something that’s actually quite complex.”
During the five years since she painted The Last Supper her work has grown quieter and more meditative, says Ms Stevens. She is currently working on a series of images taken from drone footage of Aleppo, reflecting on the absolute devastation of the city.
A portrait of her father and grandfather entitled My Father’s Father is currently a finalist in the Portia Geach Memorial Award, a distinguished portrait prize for female artists.
The opportunity to display past and experimental work at the Left Hand is invaluable, says Ms Stevens.
“It was fantastic because I’ve not shown that painting anywhere... and it was really exploratory and I’m not sure how successful,” Ms Stevens said. “Julian’s space is really great like that, because you can show your sketches and different aspects of your work.”
Works from Robin Wallace-Crabbe, Bernard Hardy, Catherine Moore, Clinton DeVere, Colin Edgell, Jay Davies, Julian Laffan, Pauline Webber, Tim Burke and Lizzie Hall are also on display.
- Playing with the Past will run the weekends of October 28-29 and November 4-5, 10am-5pm at 81 Lascelles Street, Braidwood