Robert Rooney
dal 2/4/2013 al 18/5/2013
Segnalato da
2/4/2013
Robert Rooney
Tolarno Galleries, Melbourne
The Box Brownie Years 1956-58. Black-and-white photographs demonstrate an early fascination with childhood, repetition and seriality, themes that have persisted throughout his long career.
Curated by Maggie Finch and Patrick Pound
An exhibition of never-before exhibited black-and-white photographs taken by Robert Rooney with his Box Brownie camera between 1956-58. Created when Rooney was a student at Swinburne Technical College and influenced by Charles Blackman and Ben Shahn, among others, they demonstrate an early fascination with childhood, repetition and seriality—themes that have persisted throughout his long career.
A sense of freedom in the action of the children—playing on suburban streets, in schoolyards and at a suburban quarry and tip—is evident. The youths also play to the camera. There is a sense of complicity, awareness without selfconsciousness. The apparent innocence of the now nostalgic scenes, however, is undercut by a melancholy note: this state is transitional. There is also the potential for danger.
These marvellous early photographs will be shown alongside three key paintings from that time, and a recent film The Quadrangle 1956 (2009) made with these early images.
Opening: 3rd April 2013
Tolarno Galleries
Level 4, 104 Exhibition Street, Melbourne
Hours: Tuesday - Friday 10am-5pm, Saturday 1pm-5pm
Free Admission