Roslyn Oxley9 Gallery - Destiny Deacon & Glenn Sorensen

With two big openings on the same night and only just up the road from each other it made the evening twice the fun.

Turning up early to check out the work of these two fine artist’s while the gallery was empty was worth it, Destiny Deacon’s work packed a punch with a salon hung collection of large colourful works that shone like a beacon in the empty gallery. These works were vibrant and full of life giving happiness, the colours of the outfits and the backgrounds told of a very happy family upbringing.

As with the black and white photographs and the video, Destiny has gotten in touch with her family history, keeping her connection to her ancestors is of the up most importance. I loved the installation with the glass house and kaleidoscope video as it poured over the gallery floor it was like stepping into a fragment of history.

The raspberry bushes, snakes and intimate portraits of small delicate flowers were the first to introduce me to Glenn Sorensen’s work, the stark black backgrounds propel the images to stardom. They are almost the same as photograph negatives, the positive would be too much but the negative reveals hints of the past.

 I somehow recognized Glenn and told him I was a fan and then later his mother approached me and wanted to thank me for my kind words from a previous review and then I realized the portrait was of him with a beard.

I’m not sure which is my favourite, loved ‘Maria’ oil on linen with it’s spooky white snake and ‘Blind’ oil on linen, two soulful flowers slowly wafting in a breeze. It’s as if all of these paintings have been painted with a deeply sensitive brush, sensitive to the artist’s immediate environment and sensitive to the artist’s way of life.

Fleur MacDonald

3rd May - 19th May 2012
www.roslynoxley9.com.au