This exhibition took as its focus the work of four highly regarded young painters: James Lynch, Amanda Marburg, Rob McHaffie and Moya McKenna. Model Pictures tracked the artists' approaches to modelling the world around us and their contribution to a new direction in contemporary painting in Melbourne over the preceding decade, examining the historical significance of their initiatives as well as each artist's unique and different working methods. The artists use a range of media, including a constructed tabletop tableaux, plasticine models, mannequins and studio still life. Lynch, Marburg, McHaffie and McKenna – who all graduated from the VCA between 1996 and 2002 – utilise painting as a diagnostic tool. They experiment with the immediate environment and with ideas of scale and pictorial space, analysing the character of painting and the problem of its 'autonomy'.
Curated by Bala Starr.
Works by Amanda Marburg (left) and Moya McKenna (right) in Model Pictures, Potter Museum of Art, installation view. Photograph: Viki Petherbridge.