From Sharne Wolff…
Born in the Netherlands, artist Matthys Gerber moved to Sydney as a teenager in 1971. Matthys Gerber, the exhibition, is the first career survey of Gerber’s work. Drawn from private and public collections, the display traverses several decades as numerous large and colourful paintings vie for the viewer’s attention. Reflecting the eclectic nature of Gerber’s work, this is no ordinary hang. Curator Natasha Bullock has dispensed with chronology and obvious threads. Spread around the room at varying levels from eye level to almost ceiling height, Gerber’s genre-skipping habits might take a little more focus for those less acquainted with his work. For others more familiar with the artist’s oeuvre, interesting connections are discoverable via the display’s physical arrangement.
Having arrived in Australia with an inbuilt sense of European aesthetic, Gerber was attracted to the postmodernism of the era. He turned his attention to distilling ideas evolved from experimenting with a diverse range of Australian and international art. Borrowing from commercial design, indigenous cultures, art history and everyday patterns the exhibition illustrates Gerber’s wandering eye, his skills of observation and ability to articulate ideas in multiple ways. One apparent theme is Gerber’s interest in symmetrical pattern and mirroring expressed in his ongoing Rorschach series and in everything from the simplicity of Dot Painting to the impossible landscape of Holy War II. This show is visual chaos at its best.
Until December 6
Museum of Contemporary Art, Sydney
Pic: Matthys Gerber [installation image]. Courtesy the artist and Museum of Contemporary Art, Sydney.
