Ron Francis paints in the hyper-real trompe l’oeil style creating scenes that read true yet are plucked from his imagination. With this approach, Francis delves into the essence of what he wants to say, reflecting, “It is common for the meaning to be an intangible feeling that I can’t express with words”.
Restaging narratives of moments past, memories and dreams to what the artist finds “odd or ironic about things people do”, these works draw the viewer into a curious awareness.
Ron Francis, Tree Museum, 2017, oil on canvas, 117 x 86.5cm. Courtesy the artist and Scott Livesey Galleries, Melbourne
“When I was young I miss-heard the lyrics to Big Yellow Taxi by Joni Mitchell. She sang, ‘They paved paradise and put up a parking lot’, but I heard it as ‘To pay paradise, put up a parking lot’, says Francis about the work Tree Museum (2017).
“In short, to give nature some commercial value to justify keeping it. So this is a bit of a tribute to Joni Mitchell.” – Ron Francis
Scott Livesey Galleries
3 to 24 June, 2017
Melbourne
