Happy When It Rains

Light and dark, food and wine, art and death - this exhibition represents all things insatiably decadent.

MoCu presents Happy When It Rains – a delicious fusion of art and wine – a pop-up exhibition as part of Art-Month. The title of the exhibition draws inspiration from a Jesus and Mary Chain, it exudes a sense of dichotomy – light versus dark and life versus death – which all the works in the show explore.

Curator Sebastian Goldspink selected seven local Sydney artists to create works specifically for the exhibition, including Bridie Connell, Jason Wing, Samuel Hodge, Jasper Knight, Daniel Hollier, Kate Scardifield and Lauren Webster. Diverse in form and content the works include performance, site-specific installation, as well as sculpture and painting. And from a glance there are some interesting pairings that emerge.

Bridie Connell is known for her exploration of the representations of women and sexuality in art and popular culture. For the exhibition she will rework a recent video work that examines “selfie” culture and the female gaze. Continuing this exploration of identity, Jason Wing responds to his bi-cultural Chinese and Aboriginal upbringing. Penetrative topics that delve deep into the psyche of what is Australian identity, there is a celebration of self but also an acknowledgement of the conflicting views that surround these issues.

Moving to the geometric, Daniel Hollier is a Canberra-born artist based in Sydney who creates paintings of object-like elements that he describes as “narrative abstractions”. Similarly, Jasper Knight’s bold work hones in on specific icons of the urban landscape. Whilst real subjects, his play with geometry and composition abstracts and plays with the original meaning and form.

In an unique collaboration, each artist’s work is matched and paired with MoCu’s artisan beer and wine – so for the self-declared culture connoisseur this is a tasting of all senses that will be hard to resist.

Goldspink expanded upon the idea of the show, stating “The idea is to explore uncommon pairings, such as brewing and winemaking to art. Brewing and winemaking are as much an art as the literal sense and it’s a wonderful fusion we wanted to celebrate through a gallery of works that encourage further discovery and exploration of unique methods of creation.”

Only open for three days, you can book yourself a ticket that comes with a complimentary drink and canapés. Tickets can be booked online here.

EXHIBITION
Happy When It Rains
29 March – 1 April 2017
Studio Neon