From Andrew Frost…
Rebecca Karageorgos has a dark mind even when the lights are on full blast. In two series of photographs produced in 2009 and 2011, the artist created stunning portrait-like studies of friends and family, up close images of her often-naked subjects, their vulnerabilities exposed in settings designed to evoke pre-Modern painting, and perhaps intentionally, creating a Lynchian vibe of haunted theatre.
For Paradiso, Karageorgos has ditched the literal darkness of Sturm und Drang for a colourful, Bollywoodesque over-the-topness that evokes the Baroque, albeit summoned up with Photoshop and special effects. In Adele (honeys get the money) there’s an echo of a Parmigianino Madonna [via Cronulla] the subject’s creed tattooed to her chest, while in Liam (2MA BOI) we find a Patrina Hicks-style boy infected with a Piccinini virus. The key work for the show is Genevieve [summa luv], where the Barque spirit of earthly, corporeal pleasure meets heavenly rapture. Paradise indeed.
Until June 6
Firstdraft, Surry Hills
Pic: Rebecca Karageorgos, Genevieve [summa luv], 2013. Digital print on gloss, 60x100cms.
