 The Video Game Got Serious, 2005 mixed media on canvas, 30" x 30" Anthony Lister Anthony Lister's paintings reflect the immediacy of life and its experiences occurring to him and to his associates. He is fascinated with plague-like effects of consumer pollution on many of his generation that crescendo in all built-up and high-density communities. This is Lister's platform. He himself partly fits the mould and partly drives against it. Lister's work carries the themes of his concerns as he takes a peripheral position to the mainstream. He is interested in embracing the socially challenged, the downtrodden, the inability of others to "break out of the mold" and the de-stabilizing affect this creates in communities. By inserting himself within this framework, Lister exploits the familiar, enjoying the comfort zone and authorizing him to critique its function by presenting the dysfunction he observes from day to day activities such as a drive to the supermarket, a walk in the park, waiting for a train or a brief encounter with anyone on the street. Such engagement extends to the suburban city fringes, a familiar and cherished territory from where Lister spurns corporate greed, loss of community, mediocrity and conservative solutions in place of creative ones. Whilst suburbia offers a cradle for his family and inspiration for the artist, simultaneously Lister shuns the small-mindedness andwasteful concern for the trivial so often the symptom of those localized within the suburban environment. In using the visual languages of graffiti, cartoons, and stenciling the artist has developed a considered and mannered approach to the making and delivery of his paintings. These aggressively painted yet sparse works deliver complex visual and metaphorical layers evidencing his perspective on the contradictions of values in modernity. Anthony Lister is fast capturing the attention of collectors and galleries around the globe. Born 1979 in Brisbane, Anthony Lister received his BVA from Queensland College of Art, Brisbane in 2001. In 2002/3, he undertook a mentorship under Max Gimblett in his New York studio, returning to complete a residency at the Blender studio in Melbourne. Lister has participated in several solo and group exhibitions in Australia, USA, Canada, Germany and Italy and has exhibitions planned later this year with both the Institute of Modern Art and Fox Galleries in Brisbane. Lister has been a finalist in the Brett Whiteley Travelling Scholarship (2003) and in the Metro 5 Art Award (2004, 2005). Lister initially rose to prominence in his home town by pioneering a mammoth public art project over three years that saw him paint dozens of the city's electrical switch boxes, leaving his trademark tag of Mona Lister. His work was profiled in this month's Oyster magazine and will be featured in upcoming article in Belle magazine. Exhibition: June 30 - August 12, 2005 Gallery hours: Tues-Fri 11 am - 6 pm, Sat 12 - 5 pm Lyons Wier Gallery 511 W 25th St., No. 205 USA-New York, NY 10001 Telephone +1 212 242 62 20 Fax +1 212 242 62 38 Email lyonswier@hotmail.com www.lyonswiergallery.com |
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