Through portraiture, self-portraiture and auspicious symbols, Kate Beynon explores the complexities of identity, cultures and contemporary existence. Informed by a diverse range of pictorial traditions including European art history, Chinese painting, comic books, animation, film, graffiti, calligraphy and fashion, Beynon’s work is a nexus of influences that negotiate a global landscape marked by politics of race, identity and culture. Alongside recent paintings of powerful female guardian characters surrounded by an array of signs, symbols and charms borrowed from various cultural sources, the exhibition also features portraits of women associated with the surrealist art movement, including the painters Frida Kahlo, Leonor Fini and Remedios Varo Uranga.
Sutton Gallery
20 April to 19 May
Young Frida, 2012, acrylic and swarovski crystals on canvas, 20 x 15cm
Courtesy the artist and Sutton Gallery, Melbourne