VIEWING ROOM

CAROLINE WALLS
‘MOTHERLOVER’

Jerico Contemporary is pleased to present our second solo exhibition with Australian artist Caroline Walls, MotherLover. The show will open on Thursday the 13th of October and continue through to Saturday the 5th of November 2022.

In her latest body of work, Walls moves in a new figurative direction, capturing the quiet, unseen moments of life. Far from the gestural, abstract works she has become known for, this latest series see’s the artist make intimate paintings that thoughtfully and carefully capture the ordinariness and extraordinariness of the everyday experience. For Walls, the everyday is the beauty and tenderness of motherhood and (same-sex) marriage; and in each painting we see glimpses and moments of these two seemingly opposing forces, motherhood and sexuality come together.

Exploring a deeply personal narrative, MotherLover navigates the space between being a mother, partner and artist; the inherent tension in trying to be all things at once. While the series is informed by the artists’ personal life, the intimacy at play is universal of the human condition.

In the series of nineteen intimate oil paintings, Wall’s figures are offered to us only in glimpses. With radically cropped bodies, defining qualities disguised and gazes averted; they appear as if quickly photographed in a fleeting moment. Anonymous yet intimate, their identity intentionally hidden from the viewer.

‘MotherLover is my most personal collection to date, with the artworks capturing my musings on my own life – the ordinariness and extraordinariness of the everyday experience. I was interested in capturing those quiet, unseen moments in my marriage and motherhood that are often overlooked or forgotten about but that are actually imbued with tenderness and beauty.’

– CAROLINE WALLS

IN THE STUDIO:

ARTIST BIOGRAPHY:

Caroline Walls was born in 1984, Auckland, New Zealand. The artist holds an Honours degree in Visual Communication (Swinburne University of Melbourne) and a Post-graduate degree in Visual Arts (Victorian College of the Arts). Her solo exhibitions include ‘Resemblance’, Jerico Contemporary (2020), ‘Darker Places’, Fortyfivedownstairs, Melbourne (2018), ‘Maybe She’, Saint Cloche Gallery, Sydney (2017), ‘Another Thought’, Modern Times, Melbourne (2017) and ‘The Women’, Gallerysmith Project Space, Melbourne (2015). Her group exhibitions include Sydney Contemporary Presents, Jerico Contemporary (2020), ‘Friends and Family’, Diane Singer, Melbourne (2019), ‘Rituals’, Modern Times, Melbourne (2019), ‘TDF Collect’, The Design Files, Melbourne (2019), ‘Nobody’s Baby’, The Ladies Network, Sydney (2017). The artist currently lives and works in Melbourne, Australia.