Melbourne artists Gerard and Marc have once again carefully constructed a highly detailed photographic collection with these latest works known as ‘Queens of the Pub’, over the past two years, Gerard had been collecting bottle tops and hotel disposables from St Kilda’s most iconic venues.
A team of artists recycled these materials collected from busy bars, restaurants and local drinking holes operating in St Kilda, and seaside trash has been transformed into spectacular Queenly Costumes and treasure. Gerard and his team collected the waste and leftover beer cans and gold and royal red bottle tops; things that would normally be placed in the bin. These items were crafted into precious objects by jewellers, fashion designers, and stylists. All the glittering, beautiful recycled royal props for the ‘Queens of the Pub’ photographic exhibition were created by artists who reside or work in the area of the City of Port Phillip.
These artists also strive to run their own businesses and to make a life in wonderful St Kilda. One persons’ waste to become a collection of royal treasures!
Gerard and Marc continue to explore the sensuality that lies beneath the coolest exterior; the hypocrisy of the pious; the corruption of the powerful; the violence seething below the veneer of civilisation; the calamities that befall the most rational plans. We explore and celebrate the diversity of humanity across age, gender, sexual orientation and cultural background presenting the chaos of interactions in aesthetically sophisticated but narratively unexpected ways.
The result is both familiar and surprising. Familiar in terms of the general subject and costuming; surprising in the way the characters interact and the underlying twists in the narrative. Yet, being researched in detail, the unexpected elements in each image are all based on fact; evoking, through imaginative reworking, a truer history than the sanitised narratives passed down over time.
Each image has been meticulously planned over months of pre-production; shot involving an extensive production team; and finished over many weeks of painstaking post-production. The detail and narrative complexity of each image has proven highly engaging for viewers from very diverse backgrounds, drawing them into the ideas and actively engaging their imaginations. This active imaginative engagement is an essential aspect of our practice and has been a major contributing factor to the enormous success of our work internationally. Our images speak to a highly diverse audience because of their very human narratives.
Where: 1 Space 2, The George Hotel
(Entrance via The George Apartments)
127 Fitzroy St, St Kilda
6pm onwards
Exhibition dates
13-23 December 2019
11am-6pm
@gerardandmarc #gerardandmarc
Written by Melinda Sullivan PR Helen Reizer
