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Stiff Upper Lip
19 January, 2021 - 30 January, 2021
Cally Lotz
Stiff Upper Lip
19 – 30 January 2021
hours:
Tuesday – Friday 11am to 5pm,
Saturday 11am to 3pm,
26 January: 11am to 3pm
admission: Free
…a psychological safe space for what otherwise cannot be said.
Stiff Upper Lip is an analytical still life painting project that explores complex psychological states such as containment, austerity and isolation. Metaphorical imagery like empty buckets, plastic bottles and parcels are used to suggest interiority where for artist Cally Lotz, the act of painting becomes a psychological safe space for what otherwise cannot be said.
By depicting mundane objects Lotz aims to maintain a detached and remote stance from any given narrative. Instead she allows her attention to dwell on the formal and material aspects of representational painting. The motifs exist only as empty signifiers enabling a deeper and more meaningful investigation into the issue of repression.
Lotz has become aware that still life painting can create a strange presence between what we call reality and what psychoanalyst Jacques Lacan calls ‘the real’. Ordinary objects can be shaped into profound statements on containment and trauma.
Cally Lotz is a Melbourne based artist who studied an MFA at RMIT, and a BVA at The University of South Africa (UNISA). Her practice incorporates highly analytical still life painting where she explores complex psychological states such as containment, austerity and isolation. Metaphorical imagery like empty buckets, plastic bottles and parcels are used to suggest interiority where for Lotz, the act of painting becomes a psychological safe space for what otherwise cannot be said. Her work has been exhibited in South Africa, Germany, India and Australia. Recent exhibitions include RMIT Intersect LIGHTSCAPES, on show until February 2020. Lotz has recently been awarded a studio residency at Sandbox Studios Melbourne 2019 – 2020. She has been the recipient of various other residencies including St Vincent’s Melbourne 2014-1015 and AIR Vallauris France 2017. Her work is held in public collections including Sasol and UNISA in South Africa, and St Vincent’s in Melbourne. Images and texts can be found at www.callylotzartist.com.