SIMPLY COULDN'T, ABSOLUTELY MUST

1 December – 18 December 2010

TONEE MESSIAH

Fleeting moments from our daily lives is at the centre of Tonee Messiah’s artworks. This exhibition titled 'Simply Couldn’t, Absolutely Must' presents a new series of paintings and drawings which look at how our regular day to day activities and responsibilities affect our desires to live spontaneously. While we go about our everyday life, the idea of an adventure or “throwing caution to the wind” places us in a titillating state of unrest. Soon our minds and bodies are at war. We are at once fighting to restrain a flighty imagination and sustain a lifestyle which guarantees security, and the other trying to inspire enough courage to let it all go.

Named as an exciting young painter by Sebastian Smee (then arts critic for The Australian) in 2007, Tonee Messiah’s work is in the collection of the Monash University Museum of Art, Melbourne, as well as numerous private collections within Australia. Messiah was selected for the 2010 RBS emerging art award and this is her fifth exhibition at Gallery 9.