Outside Painting exhibition reflects on the ‘fluid boundary’ between art and life

Melbourne-based artist Nadine Christensen has exhibited her work at Hugo Michell Gallery several times, but for this exhibition she wanted to show her work in a different way, giving Adelaide audiences a broader context for her practice. In Outside Painting she has teamed up with two emerging artists, Katrina Dobbs and Bill Hawkins, whose artistic practices she felt aligned with her work – not necessarily in the final product but rather in the way they create and think about their work. 

“We have brought these things together under the banner of painting, [but] it extends to thinking about source material. Where does the painting begin and end?” explains Christensen. “Most artists in Australia have to have other jobs. What I am interested in is when those other things in your life emerge in your practice – how does my work as a teacher emerge? How is it visible in my practice?” 

Christensen is a teacher at the Victorian College of the Arts and a mother of three, and she is interested how these things manifest themselves in her practice. Much of her practice reflects her everyday life with Christensen populating her paintings with recurring elements of her subconscious such as a pesky fly, architectural skeletons, DIY material, ancient gemstones and a vision of a beaten-up car. 

Dobbs has three zones at home that she uses for her practice – the lounge, bedroom and shed – and between each area are drips of paint, remnants of her practice. There is almost no delineation between home and work for her. The exhibition includes some of her paintings as well as a couple of installation pieces that reflect how much her practice is embedded in her everyday life. 

“We are not talking about the outcomes here, but we are talking about what’s around painting, what’s outside the actual end result of the painting,” says Christensen. “It’s about the processes and where that fluid boundary between art and life is and how it influences and impacts the process and emerges in the final outcomes.” 

Hawkins is interested in the social, political and bureaucratic structures around an artistic practice, for instance how institutions influence and emerge and how peer groups impact opportunities.

The works in this exhibition have stemmed from last year’s fundraiser for Westspace where Watkins auctioned a lunch date with him. The buyer was photographic artist, Sanja Pahoki.

Watkins recorded the encounter and this exhibition includes a 42 minute video piece, My Lunch with Sanja and the paintings, An Exquisite Lunch 1, 2 and 3. 

Outside Painting observes all the elements around these artists’ practices that influence and direct the final outcome. These artists, like many practicing artists today, are juggling their visual arts career with the need to secure other means of income. This exhibition acknowledges the difficulty of keeping external influences separate from the arts, and in some ways celebrates the relationship between the two.

Outside Painting
Hugo Michell Gallery
Until 8 April