Joan Ross: Imagine if they'd cared.: N.Smith Gallery

 Ads pervade our lives and our disconnection with nature is like a ravine. Imagine if they'd cared smells the stench of Possession, our latest perfume. Penetrating the colonial canvas of colonial era paintings these works are imbued with references whilst critiquing Australian colonisation and its legacies. Ross brings us to a spinning tableau of greed, separation from nature, self-interest, lack of care, false discovering, possession, ownership, mansions, silverware, celebrations for control over ‘their land’, blow flies, bees, fireworks, balloons, lush curtains, faux advertisements for leaf blowers and perfume, native versus non-native plants, consumerism, waterfalls, pollination, blowing leaves, fountains spewing gold, flowers with the heads of colonists, security cameras, butterflies, superiority, a huge willy willy, with leather lounges, tv’s, torches, lightbulbs, happy couple figurines, pianos, vases, cutlery, paintings, all the trappings spin and spin, spitting out and leaving us with the Chesterfield lounge and the mansion, they finally sink, taking us back to nature, as it was.

 

Interested? Joan's busy making work for the show, but we're happy to send you a preview once the works are ready. Just let us know.

 

Artwork:

Joan Ross

Always the last one at the party (blue), 2023
hand-painted digital print on rag paper
48 x 58 cm