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Male Form explores the complex and often contradictory landscape of masculinity, blending personal identity with the commercialised, hyper-stylised imagery that dominates our culture. This exhibition draws inspiration from the clichés, symbols, and stereotypes that have come to define men both in their most authentic and most exaggerated forms.The work offers a bold, sometimes flamboyant critique of the masculine ideal. It is both provocative and playful using highly decorative elements and larger-than-life forms to create a dialogue about masculinity's role in both shaping and being shaped by our cultural norms. It weaves together the personal and commercial, the authentic and the artificial, in a rich tapestry of visual language. Using humour and exaggeration Male Form pokes fun at masculine tropes while still celebrating their cultural significance.
The show consists of New paintings, works on paper, painted cut out wood panels, three dimensional work and prints on canvas. Opening night is at The Serpentine Gallery in Lismore on Thursday 23rd January from 6 till 9 pm and continues to Sunday 9th February. Please join me for drinks, nibbles and music from local artist Davey Bob Ramsey.
Artist's statement
My work is driven by process. In this regard I am opportunistic. I recycle and make use of incidental elements and push a work towards revealing its true nature. The process begins in the abstract and, at a certain point, the narrative enters. I work from my studio in Northern New South Wales. It allows me complete freedom to move around a canvas. I like to work large, rather than small as there is an unbridled physicality to my work that demands scale. Much like action painting, the canvases see-saw between order and chaos. This brings a fragile tension and energy to the work.
Mediums and materials will vary. My aim is to make marks that represent and delineate human responses to physical, emotional and subconscious worlds. Dense, shiny black indelible ink and quick drying acrylics give me freedom to layer and experiment. I use random objects found in my surroundings to make marks with character. They offer versatility, intensity and quality of line, which I am passionate about. The process continues with layers of ink and paint, building detail and surface tension until a kind of iconography emerges. It becomes a visual language that evokes the momentum and complexity of our culture, and reflects the natural world and our place in it. I continue the use of geometric patterning and decoration particularly using the circle in both hand and mechanically generated marks. Ones and zeros, pluses and minuses are the fill and bricks and mortar of my image construction.
As a child I was a young artist and loved drawing. I would draw quite physically and heavy handed sometimes tearing into the paper. This was part of my quest searching for the most solid black. I love working in black and white and have a collection of many black paints and inks.
Artist Biography
A born visual communicator and Image maker, Jay began his life and work in Scotland and England. His early artistic talent, love of image, drawing and the mark was further nurtured in a creative boarding school in Devon, UK before emigrating to Australia as a teenager, an environment where his talent thrived and his unique visual language began to emerge. Jay studied Design, Image Making and Visual Communications at the University of Technology Sydney and worked as a celebrated designer and art director for many years before heeding the call to his true artistic purpose: an exciting and authentic new painter. Through unwavering focus and commitment to his artistic process, Jay has emerged as a strong, natural artist with a commanding ability to communicate and express ideas through painting, drawing and the ever present line. He is known for creating some of the iconic imagery in Australia's music industry. He has an aria nomination for designing The Cruel Sea's cd artwork as well as poster designs in Sydney's Powerhouse museum collection. He has presented solo shows including Bird of Paradise (2011), Unwild 2012), Instinct (2016), Got ID (2022) and now Male Form (2025). Jay continues working on a number of new series of paintings as well as a large collection of works on paper and cut out panels.
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Event Venue & Nearby Stays
Serpentine Community Gallery Inc, 104 Conway St, Lismore NSW 2480, Australia,Lismore, New South Wales
