Christopher Jewitt’s ‘What We Miss’ exhibition opens today
The multi-disciplinary artist from Melbourne, Christopher Jewitt, is bringing voltaic saturations of colour to Geelong’s Boom Gallery. ‘What We Miss’ opening the 4th of November is a direct response to life in and out of lockdowns and quarantines.
Although the thought of COVID-19 seems bleak and dreary, Jewitt portrays this subject matter in a playful manner and truly brings to light the beauty of the world around us.
Jewitt finds inspiration from “people I meet and the places I visit. The different psychology and philosophy of people and places is interesting to learn about.” With pure shock blues, deep spectrum reds, greens and lilacs, this exhibition really draws upon the human psyche and our attraction to colour.
After receiving a scholarship in 2011 to travel to China, Jewitt’s style has developed each year with a graceful complexity and maturity. The choice of medium is due to the “quality of mark making created by high flow acrylic makers that I find fascinating. The combination of markers and brush marks gives my work an aesthetical depth and character.”
In a tempest of colour and marks, it’s hard not to fall in love the instant you are in the same space as these pieces. Jewitt’s work has been described as a “sumptuous meal for the eye” and I can certainly see why.
Jewitt “would like to encourage people to re-learn the act of seeing and to view paintings in a way that delves beneath the canvas, into the worlds of introspection and interpretation.”
The tactile nature and explosions of colour is “a reaction to covid and its subsequent lockdowns. However, I wanted its message to reach beyond this and into everyday life. To ‘miss’ something whether due to loss, unawareness or missed opportunity effects people in different ways.”
What We Miss opens today at Boom Gallery in Newtown. The official opening event will be on the 6th November 1-3pm. Why not make a day out of it.
To keep up with Christopher Jewitt’s latest work follow him here.
