Lot 51

Jan Murphy Gallery, Queensland 2022
Private collection, Sydney

Gerwyn Davies, Pleasure, Jan Murphy Gallery with The Calile Hotel, Brisbane, 16 September - 4 October 2022
Employing elaborate costumes made by the artist himself, Sydney-based photographer Gerwyn Davies' art explores identity and the fictitious possibilities of digital images. In early 2022, Gerwyn was invited to check-in at The Calile Hotel as their artist in residence, utilising the distinct architecture as the inspiration for his new body of work‚ Pleasure.

"Over five decadent days, a cast of costumed characters – variously shiny, spiky, slippery and sleek – spilled themselves into each corner of the Calile, uncovering its every recess and helping themselves to suites, rooftops, car parks and gyms. In their wake, a stubborn trail of glitter left scattered throughout the hotels hallways and lifts suggested these were the kind of visitors that would be hard to get rid of. And while as alien as these guests might first appear, there is also a sense that they already belonged to the hotel. In the suite of twelve photographic works, the iconic architectural forms of the Calile enfold these vivid figures, welcoming, shaping and securing them in place. Likewise, the costumed bodies respond, their strong graphic forms mimicking, reaching out for and nestling into the built environment that surrounds them. Within these works of Pleasure, like polished postcards from paradise, the vibrant creatures are languid, sprawled and stretched. They show no signs of check-out times and instead, embody the sense of sun-drunk resplendence that being cocooned inside the hotel arouses." (Artist's statement)

© Courtesy of The Artist and Jan Murphy Gallery