This month a careful selection of works by artist John Young is on show in the intimate ARC ONE. Young was born in Hong Kong but is an artist frequently exhibited both locally and internationally. Young's abstract paintings appear organic and wholesome, like dappled light and blurry photographs. They are in fact the result of Young's meticulous digital reconstruction of images translated onto linen. It is perhaps this methodical dedication in Young's practice that puts his viewers at ease. The seamless marrying of contemporary digital practice to an ancient medium is undeniably impressive.
Silent Transformations is presented in three stages, the Fairweather Transformation, Shiva and The Mute Palace, in addition to the large scale Naïve and Sentimental Painting XXII. ARC ONE promotes this new collection as 'engaging with metamorphosis and the sublime'. This translates well visually, and the Fairweather Transformations (so named after wandering artist Ian Fairweather) appear suitably obscure, the Shiva series are darker and clearer in form, evolving to the blocky collage and figuration of The Mute Palace works. The curation tells a story of the evolution of form, however but the block colour digital print and paint combination of The Mute Palace jarringly opposes its abstracted counterparts.
While an exploration in metamorphosis plays well visually, it could arguably mean these works are simply a reconfiguration of Young's previous works. His Fairweather Transformation series has been exhibited twice before, though this viewing is the first within Victoria. Naïve and Sentimental Paintings was first shown in 2006. Shiva is technically new; it presents itself as a darker evolution of the Fairweather Transformations though may have been visually inspired by Young's previous Veil and Passage series. The Mute Palace series has its foundations within Young's Double Ground Paintings. Arguably the act of recycling is essential to Young's practice: specific processing and editing of images found on the internet forms the basis of his abstract paintings.
Conceptually, Young is largely concerned with the intersections of Eastern and Western culture. It is his re-reading of late Modernism as a Western phenomenon, but from a bi-cultural viewpoint, arguably sets him apart from many abstract painters on the contemporary stage. Silent Transformations is no different, as subtle references to modernism become glaringly apparent the closer you look. Fairweather Transformation XVI, for example, becomes a contemporary reproduction of Jackson Pollock's famed Mural at a more intimate scale. Naïve and Sentimental Painting XXII gives the slightest nod to Monet's Impression, Sunrise. Arguably this subject matter packs less of a punch when viewed as a recycling on former works. The most 'original' of the exhibition, The Mute Palace works however play most effectively within this intersection.
Issue No. 1
Grab a copy of Memo’s first glossy annual magazine issue, featuring an extended artist focus on Archie Moore, the 2024 Venice Biennale Australian Representative, with essays by Rex Butler, Tara Heffernan, Tristen Harwood, and Hilary Thurlow.
Issue 1 features articles by Audrey Schmidt, Philip Brophy, Helen Hughes, The Manhattan Art Review’s Sean Tatol, Cameron Hurst, Chelsea Hopper, among your favourite regular Memo contributors. There are reviews and articles, including on Melbourne design art, French literature’s ageing enfant terrible, Michel Houellebecq, Derek Jarman’s Blue (1993), the celebrated Spike magazine cultural critic, Dean Kissick, the local cult-favourite Jas H. Duke, and much, much more.
Memo Magazine, 256 pages, 16 x 25 cm
Silent transformations functions well as a brief summation of Young's works to date. Yet as an important figure for contemporary art in both Australia and overseas, it is definitely worth a second look.
Pascalle Bailey is currently studying Art History and Curating at Monash University and works as an Honorary Curator of the Peter O’Callaghan QC Gallery.
