Regression Painting (Genius…) is a finger-painted acrylic text work on mirror that reflects the art world’s appetite for exceptionalism, self-mythology, and minor forms of professional theatre. Across the mirrored surface, a list of inflated descriptors, wizard, mastermind, guru, player, sage, bright spark, and other flattering misidentifications, gathers into a comic vocabulary of artistic importance.
To be called a genius is both seductive and ridiculous: a form of praise that can quickly harden into performance, expectation, or delusion.
Crisp reflective lettering is interrupted by smeared, gestural colour, setting the polish of public reputation against the messier conditions of making, wanting, and being seen. Informed by Freud’s notion of regression, finger painting operates here as a wilfully immature gesture within a high-art context.
To enquire about purchasing the work please contact: gallery@mosman.nsw.gov.au