eX de Medici, Cure for Pain, 2010-2011, watercolour on paper, 114 x 415 cm, private collection, Sydney (image courtesy Drill Hall Gallery)
Cold Blooded: eX de Medici at the Drill Hall Gallery brings together
some of the artist’s recent works, including a large panoramic, Cure for pain, 2010. This work has sort
of championed de Medici’s oeuvre in terms of recognisability, thanks to various
press reviews and gallery marketing material. The work is impressive in both
its size and intricate detail, and represents something quite utterly encompassing.
This effect is founded on a set of layered binaries; nature/man-made, peace/violence,
life/death.
De Medici’s
fresco-like work details symbols of war in a study of military armour over a
history of violence. Helmets from previous
wartime intersect engulfing foliage of poppies and pigeons. The placement of armour
alongside this specific flora and fauna pay consideration to the ways natural
life is inducted into a nationally recognised system of meaning where poppies
and pigeons become natural relics of wartime. The commentary associated with
man-made manufacturing (product and culture) and its impacts on the natural
world circles the work. It expands from a relevant but cliché conversation
about attempts to destroy opposing human ideals at the expense of the landscape,
to a more focused examination of the integration of human and nature. This is also illustrated in the comparatively historical/biological
study of helmets as they evolve over time, alongside the varied species of
flora and fauna. The study of these entities (history/biology) is a
continuation of de Medici’s previous work. The artist has worked with
watercolour to achieve intricately rendered compositions; another binary where a
traditionally conservative medium is applied to depict existential and
politically-charged themes.
De Medici
worked initially as a tattoo artist with her own parlour in Canberra. One of
her most well-known subjects, Geoff Ostling wears a skin of de Medici’s tattooed
botanical studies (native Australian flora). Ostling intends to have his skin
displayed in a gallery once he passes away; continuing the life of his skin as
de Medici’s canvas. In 2000, De Medici undertook work at the CSIRO, recording
moth species. The artist’s experience tattooing skin, depicting native flora
and working within the context of scientific illustration at the CSIRO is evident
in Cold Blood: eX de Medici. These
paintings have precision and fine meticulous quality that will reward an inquisitive
viewer.
Cold
Blooded: eX de Medici
Drill
Hall Gallery
28 June – 11 August 2013
