RED - A Group Exhibition

What is red?
The primal connotations of red include energy, danger and determination. This month’s exhibition at Zimmerman Art Gallery draws on these associations, featuring works in a variety of media.

A painted steel sculpture by Sebastien Jaunas, simply titled “Red”, thrusts up and outwards in a sinewy twist. The work seems almost alive, its spindly tentacles fearlessly probing its surrounds.

A sense of exploration and energy is echoed by “Gusto”, an acrylic painting by Lorraine Rastorfer, with twisting gold tendrils stretching out across a sea of scarlet.

In Tony Rumball’s “Out and About”, a red-hot blaze surges from the Guy Fawkes’ night fire-pit, while in the distance a hapless farm animal looks on.

Not content to stand in the background, the young woman in Andrew Moon’s painting, “Brood”, stands centre-stage, arms firmly crossed as she glowers at any who might stand in her path.

Defiance takes a more ominous turn in Angela Tier’s “Vladimir” (Putin) and “Donald” (Trump). Sculpted from stoneware, the Presidents are both depicted as eagles – the high flying king of birds, and symbols of government power. Their avian visages embody the determination - and danger – associated with these formidable heads of state.

Another stoneware work by Tier, a grey duck urn, scopes us with unnerving red eyes.

The steeliness turns from metaphorical to literal in a metallic sculpture by Sebastien Jaunas. Simply titled “Why”, a fold of hand forged steel is brutally pierced by pointed rods.

A large oil painting by Fran Dibble rounds out the exhibition. A lush botanical scene is unexpectedly interrupted by white spheres, splattered and smeared with bright blood red. The circles resemble, in part, the petri dishes a microbiologist or pathologist might use to examine a sample. Titled “Hidden and Beneath”, the work is both unsettling and compelling, inviting us to bring our own associations to the artist’s use of colour and form.

The exhibition "Red" runs at Zimmerman Art Gallery from 1 to 30 June 2019. Open 11am to 3pm daily, including weekends (closed for Queen's Birthday on Monday 3 June).