CreatorJulian MeagherTitle'Space Blanket #1'Date2017MediumOil on linenDimensionsheight: 120cm; width: 120cmArtist StatementI have recently been working with a lot of reflective surfaces, looking for allegory within objects. They are also simply a great subject matter to paint. I made this work one day heavy with disappointment over our government's response to one of the biggest refugee crises in recent history.Accession Number185.2018Credit LineDonated through the Australian Government’s Cultural Gifts Program by Julian MeagherAccess AdviceFor research purposes only. No reproduction without permission of Yarrila Arts and Museum.
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Significance Statement
The work "Space Blanket #1" was a finalist in the Coffs Harbour Regional Gallery's signature program, Still: National Still Life Award. In 2017, this award was expanded from having a focus solely on still life painting to include artworks in all mediums. This painting however, continues and extends the gallery’s efforts in collecting the highest quality still life paintings for the gallery's collection. The still life genre is the specialist focus of the Coffs Harbour Regional Gallery’s collection, with still life artworks identified as the first priority in the gallery’s collection policy, Section 2.4.2 (1): “Works in this section reflect the still life genre, as per artworks acquired through the National Still Life Award (Still) as well as through donation, purchase, transfer and bequest.”
Julian Meagher is a mid-career artist with a successful track record in national art prizes including the Archibald and Moran prizes, and who has twice been the recipient of the Australia Council’s new work grant. Still life is central to his artistic practice and he uses to explore memory, masculinity. “Space Blanket #1” brings together his interest in objects and the everyday with social commentary. Depicting a highly reflective, metallic space blanket of the kind most commonly seen draping disaster victims or asylum seekers, the painting is both a formal investigation of the particular qualities of this material and a comment on the Australian Government’s policies and practices in relation to refugees. It was painted in 2017 in the midst of a global refugee crisis that was heavily represented in visual media as men, women and children arrived on European shores; inflatable rafts, life jackets and space blankets pervasive symbols. Typical of Meagher’s sparing composition and use of thinned down oils to play with transparency, light and reflection, this painting is a valuable addition to the gallery’s collection.
