Gallery 9 is proud to present a new body of work by Melbourne-based painter, Mark Rodder.

In Shoeglaze, as in all my work from recent years, I continue to fabricate dark romantic landscapes.  European painting from the pre-modern era is a primary influence, and artists like Corot, Böcklin, Turner, Delacroix, and Guardi have been my spiritual guides. The lands in these works are for the most part totally invented as I rarely base my images on actual places.

The exhibition’s title, Shoeglaze, evolved form the ‘shoegaze’ musical style and refers to the artist’s pre-occupation with his own personal interests as opposed to external, topical subjects. In his words: “You won’t find much relating to 2013 in my pictures, or the past few decades even.” For Rodda, Shoegaz[ing], like navel-gazing, is a practice of introspection and reflection which precipitates the creation of artworks.