Mon-Tues: CLOSED
Wed-Sat: 11am-6pm
Sun: 11am-5pm
Featuring:
Pentimento and the solitary cyclist
The Italians had a word for it– pentimento – the half seen image of an earlier painting, a ghostly image of a gesture no longer made, a road not taken.
Paintings with pentimento are like a gold mine for art historians as they show that art is not made from certainties but from indecision. Sometimes pentimento reveals that the artist originally had a key figure facing another direction, before confidently overpainting it, while leaving shadows of the past. Or it could be that an impoverished artist has overpainted a rejected work to save the cost of materials.
Shane Forrest’s exhibition is both a whimsical observation of pentimento in the public sphere and, in the case of his paintings, an example of it. Forrest was a long time friend of the late Guy Warren, who gave him discarded fine art paper he used for his watercolour paintings. Forrest gessoed over Warren’s discards which, while they cannot be seen, are still ghostly presences. The subjects of his paintings can be described as pentimento, albeit on a less precious surface. Forrest is a cyclist, and as such is a close observer of the textures of roads, and the painted signs that tell riders and drivers where to go.
Signs fade, worn away by weather and traffic, then they are repainted to show a different direction. Sometime arrows are reversed, confusing the unwary. Council workers use stencils to show where pedestrians may walk, cyclists ride and the presence of wheelchair users and children. These too fade, and are repainted – sometimes in a slightly different position, but in other works, the ghost work is upside down, indicating the direction has been reversed. Forrest has used his own stencils to paint the glorious absurdity of these echoing images, painting them over an evocation of the stippled surface of a road. The echoing poses of these stenciled figures at times almost evoke Duchamp’s Nude Descending a Staircase.
Shane Forrest is a cyclist of Sydney’s inner west, but because his daughter is living there, he has also spent considerable time cycling the streets of Strasbourg. Some of his paintings pay tribute to the subtle cultural differences. Instead of overlays of whites, the stripes defining Strasbourg’s roads are sometimes teal blue overlaying chartreuse as directions change. The stencils for European pedestrians appear more confident as they stride forth across the painted lines. Wheelchairs are more common than in Sydney, and apparently take precedence over families when crossing.
The stenciled shapes he made for the paintings are echoed in his small sculptures, made from layers of cutouts. In one work these are overlaid by splintered fragments of paint stirrers, giving the work ghostly appearance. In Shane Forrest’s world, nothing is wasted.
Joanna Mendelssohn
Art Historian
Road Markings:
Ponder SOLD
acrylic on paper 79 x 53.5cm
2023
Passage SOLD
acrylic on paper 78 x 53.5cm
2024
Slight Shift $ 500 (unframed) $ 720 (framed)
acrylic on paper 76.5 x 57cm
2024
Returned SOLD
acrylic on paper 76.5 x 57cm
2023
Juggle SOLD
acrylic on paper 76.5 x 54cm
2023
Foresight $ 500 (unframed) $ 720 (framed)
acrylic on paper 76.5 x 53.5cm
2024
Fatigue SOLD
acrylic on paper 76 x 56.5cm
2023
Look Back SOLD
acrylic on paper 76 x 56.5cm
2024
Pause $ 500 (unframed) $ 720 (framed)
acrylic on paper 76 x 56.5cm
2024
Fade SOLD
acrylic on paper 76 x 56.5cm
2024
Circulate SOLD
acrylic on paper 56.5 x 76cm
2024
Proceed With Care SOLD
acrylic on paper 76 x 56.5cm
2024
Return $ 500 (unframed) $ 720 (framed)
acrylic on paper 76 x 56.5cm
2024
Squid $ 500 (unframed) $ 720 (framed)
acrylic on paper 76 x 56.5cm
2024
Shuffle SOLD
acrylic on paper 76 x 56.5cm
2023
Leaving $ 500 (unframed) $ 720 (framed)
acrylic on paper 76 x 56cm
2023
Stagger $ 720 (framed)
acrylic on paper 76 x 56cm
2023
Cross Purpose $ 500 (unframed) $ 720 (framed)
acrylic on paper 76 x 56cm
2023
Crossing SOLD
acrylic on paper 76 x 56cm
2024
Hook $ 500 (unframed) $ 720 (framed)
acrylic on paper 76 x 56cm
2024
Within $ 500 (unframed) $ 720 (framed)
acrylic on paper 76 x 55.5cm
2023
Grilled $ 500 (unframed) $ 720 (framed)
acrylic on paper 76 x 55.5cm
2023
Embrace SOLD
acrylic on paper 70 x 50cm
2023
Walking On Eggshells SOLD
acrylic on paper 70 x 50cm
2023
Grate SOLD
acrylic on paper 70 x 50cm
2023
Lift $ 450 (unframed) $ 650 (framed)
acrylic on paper 70 x 50cm
2023
No Parking $ 450 (unframed) $ 650 (framed)
acrylic on paper 50 x 70cm
2023
Turn $ 450 (unframed) $ 650 (framed)
acrylic on paper 70 x 50cm
2023
Echo $ 450 (unframed) $ 650 (framed)
acrylic on paper 70 x 50cm
2024
Look SOLD
acrylic on paper 70 x 50cm
2024
Shower SOLD
acrylic on paper 70 x 50cm
2024
Entry Point $ 450 (unframed) $ 650 (framed)
acrylic on paper 65 x 50cm
2024
Lift Off $ 450 (unframed) $ 650 (framed)
acrylic on paper 65 x 50cm
2024
Look Forward $ 450 (unframed) $ 650 (framed)
acrylic on paper 65 x 50cm
2024
Road Repairs:
Stockpile $ 2, 000
acrylic paint on cardboard with steel display trolley
200 x 40 x 40cm
2024
Running Repair $ 350
acrylic paint on cardboard
50 x 28 x 35cm
2024
Patch $ 300
acrylic paint on cardboard
45 x 31 x 16cm
2024
Retouch $ 250
acrylic paint on cardboard
40 x 30 x 17cm
2024
Mend SOLD
acrylic paint on cardboard
31 x 26 x 20cm
2024
Makeshift $ 150
acrylic paint on cardboard
27 x 25 x 8cm
2024
Sculptures:
Further Reference Too $ 600
acrylic paint on found wood
69.5 x 59 x 14cm
2023
Accretion $ 450
acrylic paint on found wood
66 x 34 x 15cm
2023
Shift SOLD
acrylic paint on found wood
64.5 x 31 x 12.5cm
2024
Median Line SOLD
acrylic paint on found wood
61.5 x 30 x 13.5cm
2024
Surface $ 450
acrylic paint on found wood
61 x 39.5 x 11cm
2024
Stride $ 450
acrylic paint on found wood
61 x 30 x 13.5cm
2023
Stick Figure SOLD
acrylic paint on found wood
58.5 x 34 x 15cm
2023
Dash SOLD
acrylic paint on found wood
58 x 34 x 14cm
2023
Further Reference SOLD
acrylic paint on found wood
58 x 25 x 14cm
2023
Criss Cross SOLD
acrylic paint on found wood
72 x 40 x 14cm
2024
All artist’s profits are donated to The Nature Conservancy Australia
https://www.natureaustralia.org.au/