Michael McCafferty's third solo exhibition at Boom further explores his interest in abstraction, through representation. A lovely paradox as (somewhat) familiar forms are refined and reimagined in his paintings. 

ARTIST STATEMENT

"Formwerk is an extension of an ongoing body of painting developed over the past five years.

Each iteration draws from the interior landscape of home and memory as the vehicle for painting, but positions different formal elements as primary. Where previous works focused on line, gesture, colours, shapes, or patterns, these new paintings explore form as their leading compositional device.

No formal element can exist in isolation. Every shape needs a colour, every application of colour can introduce gestures. As geometric, organic, implied, and repeating forms are prioritised as central figures, the supporting colours, gestures, fields and materials that must be present have the opportunity to challenge the figure, restrict or introduce movement, contrast, compete, or harmonise." 

BIO

Michael’s work is a form of extended diary keeping in which memories are ruminated, reinterpreted, idealised and misremembered producing shifting interiors which merge events, people and architectural spaces. Working from a foundation in drawing, Michael explores a process of adaptation to translate original images and source material. This intuitive response is bound by a set of self-imposed obstructions, a process which can repeat indefinitely until the picture ‘feels’ right. The results combine elements of drawings, paintings, print, and sculpture; unified by his formalist handling of colour, materials and scale.