583 Elizabeth St Projects

November 27 2016 | Tony Mighell

These are the Latter

Jasper Johns said - 'sometimes you see it and then paint it and sometimes you paint it and then see it'; these are the latter.

They pay homage to meditation, swimming, my wife Wendy, my son Dylan, the rise and fall of the water in Saltwater Creek, the tidal canal our house faces, the movement of the neck of the grey heron as it steps along the wall of our driveway searching for food, the concentrated hand movement of Philip Glass in his Mad Rush piano piece played by him at Angel Place Recital Hall during the Sydney Festival in 2011, the new found freedom delivered me in 2015, the sad call of the Common Koel at dawn, Venus at dusk, and hopefully
no meaning,
no message,
no sign or symbol,
no thing,
nothing.

Tony Mighell

Tony Mighell studied in various Melbourne art schools in the seventies including the Victoria College of the Arts then journeyed to the New York Studio School.

The studio assistant for the Australian modernist Roger Kemp, Mighell was involved in the infamous Melbourne group of artists in the early eighties, Roar Studios.

He coordinated the painting studio at the art school in Launceston Tasmania working alongside Australian artists like Bea Maddock.

Moving to Sydney in 1994 after a number of exhibitions in Melbourne, Mighell developed a sought after reputation installing art exhibitions which led to him being the Head of Installation at the Museum of Contemporary Art, Sydney.

Whilst always maintaining his art practice, Mighell moved on from the MCA in 2015 and refocused on his painting and drawing.

This Sunday salon, ‘these are the latter’, is the first in a series of shows including a solo exhibition at Sheffer Gallery, Darlington in late February 2017.

Damien Minton