DEAMS: Transition
Melbourne-based artist Deams has returned to Backwoods Gallery for a new exhibition titled Transition, which is set to bridge the gap between the otherworldly and the mundane.
A painter, designer and founding member of art collective AWOL Crew, Deams’ art, honed over more than a decade, often includes geometric shapes and patterns, dream-like portraits and abstract paintings with an otherworldly, impressionist aesthetic. Deams’ murals, portraits, graffiti and other pieces have been featured across the street and in galleries in Australia and across the globe.
Often inspired by music, philosophy and what he calls spiritual realisations, Deams’ art is an outlet for his unique view of the world, one that is influenced by intimate interactions with family and friends, their approaches to life and what he notices around himself, daily. He claims that this way of seeing the world, always looking through the lens of art, was something that has been incubated since childhood.
“As a child growing up I was very fortunate to have had a creative family who naturally encouraged my creativity,” he told Invurt. “A lot of my ‘toys’ were simple modular off cuts of timber or building materials from my dad’s work as a builder and glazier. I see these as incredibly strong influences on my current artistic interests. Even the presence of coloured glass from my dad’s workshop gives me inspiration to this day.
“There was also a neighbouring kaleidoscope factory, a few doors down from my home, where my mum used to collect beautiful hardwood timber off-cuts – these were always triangles, circles, squares and other geometric pieces that found their place in my constructions as a kid.”
Graffiti and street art, he says, did not come until much later.
“The whole journey began the day I could hold a pen, pencil or brush – I didn’t start painting with a can until I was about 18,” he explains. “I was introduced to graffiti through my brother – he was sketching at the time and he encouraged me to try experimenting with letterforms.
“Eventually I started painting with him and got pretty consumed by the world of letters, colours, dulux and the sweet smell of German paints. When I moved to Melbourne to study I was painting independently a lot – until I met Slicer and Adnate. That’s when things really started to evolve, and the AWOL Crew became the foundation for my standard in graffiti. Since then I have made incredible connections with some of the best artists in Australia and abroad.”
Following In The Fold, his 2016 exhibition at Backwoods Gallery, Deams’ newest body of work is set to capture a state of transition between the wild, but seemingly directed, entropy of life. His new pieces are perhaps more abstract than some of his street art, with broad brush strokes and multi-layered, warm colours providing a glimpse into some dark corners of Deams’ abstract expressionism.
Bringing together pieces he created in his studio and from the two-week studio residency he continues prior to the exhibition opening at Backwoods Gallery, Transition will composed of ten larger works on canvas, as well as two large feature pieces and an assortment of smaller, study pieces.
Backwoods Gallery have described Deams’ work as moving between tangible and intangible forms and realities.
“He approaches his practice with a studious dedication to his past and the immediacy of his present, discovering links between the impressions of his childhood and his current ideas and experiences,” they comment. “His work continues to explore aesthetic and interpersonal relationships through compositional conversations in form and texture.
The artist himself says that if viewers come away with anything from his new pieces, it should be one central idea: change.
“If there was one thing I could relate in my work it would be that the only constant is change,” he explains. “If one is to truly embrace this they will rapidly evolve and expand, this should be our goal in encouraging a positive and inspiring environment for the future. These principles apply to all aspects of life and creative expression. “
Transition opens at Backwoods Gallery on Friday 19 May and will continue until Sunday 4 June 2017.
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