Simon Degroot, Studio Portraits, Charlie Hillhouse. Courtesy: the artist and THIS IS NO FANTASY, Melbourne.

THIS IS NO FANTASY presents a new series of works by Simon Degroot, Oblique Variations.

The large-scale paintings in Oblique Variations adopt an approximate sensibility of mid-century modernism but deny any specific reference or identity, trading instead in echoes, shadows, and absences. This creates a distance in the work and a space for them to connect with a contemporary moment. Through a small inexact alignment of their painted edges, each work is impressed with a visual agitation which forces a close contemplation and continuing refocus on small details. These small but significant moments highlight the materiality of the work and draw attention to the role of visual acuity when looking at painting. The paintings showcase monochromatic abstraction, simulated through a complex layering of primary process colours. Beginning from a place of reproduction and informed by commercial printing processes, these works are a painted reanimation of hard-edge abstraction.