- This event has passed.
It’s Not a Library
28 November, 2017 - 16 December, 2017
William White
28 November – 16 December 2017
hours:
Tuesday – Friday 11am to 5pm,
Saturday 12pm to 4pm
admission: Free
Well, it’s not a library, so get out.
When I was young, my friends and I would walk around the city to pass the time. Sometimes we would wander into one of those crummy bookshops that were common then. With empty wallets, and full of curiosity, we would saunter in and proceed to casually flip through some of the merchandise.
Usually these bookshops were run by some smug-looking individual who would spend all day standing behind the counter. They would keep one eye on the till and the other on the lookout for shop lifters who were planning their next easy, five-fingered discount.
So, of course, when we walked in, all attention would be diverted to us.
A cold silence would engulf the store, then a certain tension, followed by the suspicious eyeballing and shuffling behind the counter. Eventually, almost exploding with anxiety, we would hear a voice resounding across the trembling book displays;
“Are you fellas thinking of buying any of that stuff?”
“No, we’re just looking” we would reply as we flipped over to another page.
To which he would retort: “Well, it’s not a library, so get out”.
If, in some cases, he was feeling particularly good-humoured, he would respond with: “Well, it’s not a library so stop wasting my time and go outside and play”.
William White brings us an exhibition of mixed media artworks and prints inspired by these childhood memories.
It’s been a busy couple of years for me starting with a successful group show at fortyfivedownstairs in 2016.
St Vincent’s Hospital now has one of my pieces from the show hanging in their Neurology Department. If you’re ever there, please look for a piece entitled You Can Never Have Too Many Brians. It should be easy to find – it’s the largest painting in the building.
In August I exhibited in a group show at Brightspace Gallery in St Kilda entitled Where were we? It was a collection of artwork by the members of the early 1970s underground rock group, Rock Granite & The Profiles.
I finish off the year by returning to fortyfivedownstairs for my first solo show entitled It’s Not a Library. The work is an evolution of the concepts and style shown in my previous exhibition at fortyfivedownstairs. For this show the emphasis has been more on the use on artisanal coloured pencils, inks and other traditional media and not photoshop manipulation of images although digital photography still plays a major part in my work.