Candy Apple Grey, installation view, China Heights, Sydney, 2023
Inviting evocative imagery in lush pastels and nude bodies, Candy Apple Grey features various mediums that speak to fandom – inspired by the curator Sebastian Goldspink’s teenage years collecting music records, discovering Hüsker Dü’s 1985 album of the same name, and the following drive to become a curator and the ultimate fan.
“This exhibition brings together a disparate group of eleven artists that are unified simply because I am interested in them,” says Goldspink. “I like their work and follow their practices on social media. Some of them I’ve worked with for a decade, others I’ve never worked with before. In thinking what someone like me does, a curator, I have always maintained that the starting point is fandom. Being a fan.”
Zara June Williams, Her space for ambiguity and doubt, 2021, acrylic on canvas, 85 × 105cm. Courtesy the artist and China Heights, Sydney
He adds: “This exhibition is framed by nostalgia. Not a nostalgia for a particular time but a nostalgia for nostalgia. Inherently bitter-sweet and intoxicating. Some of the artists directly reference this. Some works are brand new, and some represent earlier periods in their practices. For me, as a fan, I get to craft this show and see these voices in the same room.”
Tanya Linney, Sinking Feeling, 2020, archival ink on canvas, 37 × 47cm. Courtesy the artist and China Heights, Sydney
Ellen Virgona, Untitled 2 – Three Women, 2023, C-type print on Canson rag, 74 × 103cm. Courtesy the artist and China Heights, Sydney
Candy Apple Grey features the work of Bridget Stehli, Bridie Connell, Ellen Virgona, Gabriella Lo Presti, Jazz Money (courtesy The Commercial Gallery), Kansas Smeaton (courtesy COMA Gallery), Kitty Callaghan, Min Wong (courtesy Hugo Michell Gallery), Rolande Souliere, Tanya Linney, and Zara June Williams (courtesy COMA Gallery).
Kansas Smeaton, Grapes, 2022, oil on canvas, 35.5 × 40.5cm. Courtesy the artist and China Heights, Sydney
Bridie Connell, I’ve Got It All (after Tracey Emin), 2009, C-type print on Kodak Endura premium lustre, 126 × 118cm. Courtesy the artist and China Heights, Sydney
China Heights Gallery
18 August to 17 September 2023
Sydney
