John Young, Naïve and Sentimental Painting XXVI, 2022. Oil on Belgian linen, 203 x 270cm. Courtesy: the artist and Olsen Gallery, Sydney.

OLSEN artist John Young proudly presents Naïve and Sentimental Paintings, an exhibition of new works on linen. The included paintings are drawn from two distinct series, the first sharing its name with the exhibition’s own and the second entitled The Shiva Paintings. Where the former considers the nature of images, and the degree to which they are or are not inflected with their maker’s hand, the latter body of work makes a reverent nod to the passing of time and silence following a death or disaster. Young says of the exhibition, “These paintings started with naive images, photographs of a nature so dear to us, from Antarctica and from treasured places in nature that we are fast losing through a climate of our own making. Through digital transformation, these naive photographic images are turned sentimental, by my consciousness which is augmented by the computer. Let us hope with all the losses, some resonance of nature can be resurrected by the act of painting with the body.”

Opening: 8 April 5-7pm

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