Linda Marrinon, Pierre Fresnay (orange), 2023. Painted plaster, 100 x 24 x 14cm. Courtesy: the artist and Roslyn Oxley9 Gallery, Sydney.⁠

Roslyn Oxley9 Gallery presents Pierre Fresnay and other sculptures, an exhibition of new works by Linda Marrinon. Emerging in the 1980’s, Marrinon’s work is informed by an interest in feminism, architecture and art history. Often displaying a keen sense of humour, her modestly scaled figures and busts draw on techniques associated with 19th century figurative sculpture.

“The material lushness and delicate palettes [of Marrinon’s new sculptures] render them sensually appealing, while their art historical erudition and technical aplomb place them in a familiar continuum of neoclassical aesthetics. To this Marrinon adds contemporary twists, at times seemingly incongruous elements such as state of the art technologies or fashions, that trigger bemused recognition in the viewer.​

The joy of the process of making and delight in materials are evident in the loose evocations of place in crumbling pastel forms that pique the appetite like cakes left out in the rain. Her simultaneous honouring and lampooning of the Western sculpture tradition are embodied in the terracotta renderings that capture the tradition’s idealising of the female form but overlaid with Marrinon’s feminist wit and postmodernist scepticism.

The love of popular culture, including some more obscure references that also reflect the artist’s Francophilia, is there in the painted plaster homages to Pierre Fresnay in military uniform: Fresnay was a French theatre and matinee idol of the 1920s and 30s whose debonair qualities were further exalted by his distinguished military service. In Marrinon’s hands, well-tried at skewering masculinist pretensions, Fresnay strikes an affable pose, less the intimidating star and soldier than an approachable bloke.” – Jacqueline Millner, 2023 for Art Collector Issue 104.

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