Dagmar Cyrulla’s highly anticipated exhibition Watched and Watching, follows what has already been a very successful year for this Melbourne based artist. 2008 has seen Cyrulla selected as a finalist for some of Australia’s most prestigious and hotly contested art prizes, including the Doug Moran Prize, the Black Swan Portrait Prize, the Adelaide Perry Drawing Prize, and the invitation only Kedumba Drawing Award.

In this recent body of paintings and works on paper Cyrulla continues her figurative explorations within the specific realm of domestic, interior space. However it is the relationships played out on this private stage that form the true subject here – charted through a subtle language of glances and gestures. This powerful yet ambiguous subtext creates a psychological charge that resonates throughout the entire exhibition.

“As the artist places us in a position of encroachment, where politeness demands we turn away, she exposes the act of looking. It is mostly the female characters that catch our eye. They recognise our intrusion and in doing so acknowledge a paradox of painting; that painting is an object to be looked at and yet here it is actively looking back, unsettling us by its stare.” (Dr Maryanne Coutts Watched and Watching, Catalogue Introduction, James Makin Gallery, October 2008)

Location

716 High Street, Armadale