‘Manipulated Moments' showcases the collective works of Robby Bennett, Gareth Budge and Connor Bugelli; with each artist using an array of disciplines & techniques, all with the common focus on the deterioration of line, and the abstraction of texture - breaking down the existing subject, using the remnants to piece together a composition suggestive of another form.
Robby Bennett’s process and experimentation of mark making and material usage, transforms and distorts the Australian landscape. Figuration, symbols and hues in the abstracted compositions, give us clues to the subject Bennett reinterprets. Charcoal and watercolour, oil and acrylic, canvas and paper - are all equally valued by the artist, offering different marks and gestures contributing to the expression of the sensorial experience.
Gareth Budge captures the organic decay of posters in the cosmopolitan realm. Glossy advertisements and political messages are worn away as quickly as they were pasted up. Layers are revealed and concealed, leaving abstractions for Budge to capture in a chance encounter. Using the commercial printing method of dye sublimation onto the commercial grade aluminium, his work reminds us of the challenge between man made technology and natural deterioration.
Connor Bugelli uses printing and industrial materials to produce abstracted images and sculptures. The abstraction is not only found in the visual composition, but also in the tactile and textured surfaces. Driven by a raw DIY attitude to form, materiality and manual labour, his work is developed through an open-ended intuition, that is related to negative aesthetics, dejection, deconstruction, erasure and everyday life. By re-appropriating ideas, repurposing old works, reusing materials and reconfiguring forms, Bugelli creates a sense of transmission between the works so that they speak to each other - the feedback loop between production and reproduction.