Exhibition Catalogue - Darren Knight Gallery

Buff n
Seeks
Pleasure
Matlok
Griffiths
Buffoon
Seeks
Pleasure
20 FEBRUARY – 24 MARCH 2016
Darren Knight Gallery
Sydney, Australia
Matlok
Griffiths
M A N & D O O R . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . O i l a n d A c r y l i c o n L i n e n , 1 5 4 . 4 x 1 2 3 . 8 c m ( 2 01 5 )
you here, it was the unexpected nudge of Monday. For everyone knows
Saturday offers nothing new. Well it did once, which is why she is The
Dancing Queen. But that crown is just a prop for the uninitiated. A cue,
the same way the bouncer will check your I.D. at the door right before you
cloak your jacket.
After Monday reveals you to a new unimagined dance step,
Tuesday offers you an exotic mixer complete with a piece of glace fruit,
colours neither real nor imagined.
Without request Wednesday takes us down the street, only 100
or so meters past the bong shop, oozing heady wafts of patchouli and
Iron Maiden shirts. Next to the beer soaked bodega, filled with lop-sided
clowns from another time, you are summoned down a lane of old vandalised walls that both cry blue yet sit happily slumped with overfull ashtrays
and piss stains at their feet. Up the stairs, a new dance floor illuminates
itself … another night lost in the brilliant colours.
The morning’s offerings are persistent and many … and futile.
Out of bed at half past one, and left to his own devices, there is nothing of
importance. The souvlaki grease is rubbed into the cotton sheets. He tries
to talk to old friends about his new moves. Awkward, grubby situations
that turn to smiles due to the repetition and rhythm. Especially the repetition. The untold freedom of it all. It falls on deaf ears like a phone call to an
insurance agent’s loss assessor. The night is calling…
He slinks into a new room and onto a new dance floor
resuming that now familiar stance. Looking through the hazy fumes of
haloed hair lines he is surrounded by people, far more important
people; he knows he is alone. A trailblazer. The strobing beams of lights.
The imaginary chain that turns them on. And off. Giggles and
whispers from the powder room. Falling out of the club that morning,
Pleasure has well and truly met Reality. Their first true love affair. There’s
that glace fruit again.
Like the perfectly circular lenses on your favourite pair of sunglasses Thursday rolls around the rim into Friday. Payday. Time to show all
those working saps what untold commitment brings. Those occasionalists.
All the usual fools are here: the second-generation soul singer
who doesn’t understand her resuscitation, but loves it no less; the progressive playboy who looks over his shoulder only to see Nostalgia’s shadow
dripping down his angular, baggy blue suit jacket, complete with satin
lining; the girls’ night out in all its glitter; and in the mirror’s reflection:
The Buffoon.
The smoke has turned bitter. The colours unnecessarily acidic.
What’s gotten into you? This wasn’t meant to be hard work. Standing in
a puddle of sweat, he knows he’s gone too far. Kick back and take a puff
… and another … He floats above it all. There’s that bass line. That’s more
like it. Colours right on the borderline.
Matlok Griffiths
Buffoon Seeks Pleasure
I
T WASN’T THE THRILL OF SATURDAY NIGHT THAT BROUGHT
4 9 G R E AT R E C O R D S TO DA N C E TO . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . O i l a n d A c r y l i c o n C a n v a s , 1 5 4 . 4 x 1 2 3 . 8 c m ( 2 01 5 )
T H E A R T I S T . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . C h a r c o a l , A c r y l i c & O i l o n Pa p e r, 2 9 . 7 x 2 1 c m ( 2 01 5 )
SOMETIMES AFTER MIDNIGHT
I D I D I N A P P R O P R I AT E T H I N G S . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . O i l a n d A c r y l i c o n C a n v a s , 1 8 4 . 8 x 1 3 4 . 1 c m ( 2 01 5 )
SOMETIMES AFTER MIDNIGHT
I D I D I N A P P R O P R I AT E T H I N G S
( F LO O R T H R O U G H W I N D O W ) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . O i l o n B o a r d , 6 0 x 5 0 c m ( 2 01 5 )
I S T I L L R E M E M B E R T H E B A S I C S . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . O i l a n d A c r y l i c o n C a n v a s , 1 5 4 . 4 x 1 2 3 . 8 c m ( 2 01 5 )
I S T I L L R E M E M B E R C O U N T RY M U S I C . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . O i l a n d A c r y l i c o n C a n v a s , 1 5 4 . 4 x 1 2 3 . 8 c m ( 2 01 5 / 1 6 )
P I L E O F O R D E R LY S U N G L A S S E S . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . O i l a n d A c r y l i c o n L i n e n , 1 5 4 . 4 x 1 2 3 . 8 c m ( 2 01 5 )
S U N G L A S S E S # 1 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . B r o n z e , 7 9 x 11. 5 x 9 c m ( 2 01 5 / 1 6 )
S U N G L A S S E S # 2 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . B r o n z e , 6 2 x 10 x 2 3 . 5 c m ( 2 01 5 / 1 6 )
U N T I T L E D ( N E R VO U S A G A I N ) . . . . . C h a r c o a l a n d A c r y l i c o n Pa p e r, 2 8 x 2 1. 5 c m ( 2 01 5 / 1 6 )
FOR A BRIEF MOMENT ON
S AT U R DAY N I G H T, U TO P I A E X I S T E D . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . O i l a n d A c r y l i c o n C a n v a s , 1 2 3 . 8 x 1 2 3 . 8 c m ( 2 01 5 )
FOR A BRIEF MOMENT ON
Oil and Acrylic on Board,
S AT U R DAY N I G H T, U TO P I A E X I S T E D
( F LO O R T H R O U G H W I N D O W ) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6 0 x 5 0 c m ( 2 01 5 / 1 6 )
W I C K E D P R O B L E M S . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . O i l a n d A c r y l i c o n C a n v a s , 1 2 4 x 9 7. 6 c m ( 2 01 5 )
G I G G L E S A N D W H I S P E R S F R O M T H E P O W D E R R O O M . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . O i l o n B o a r d , 5 5 x 4 8 c m ( 2 01 5 )
U N T I T L E D ( H O U S E S ) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . C h a r c o a l a n d A c r y l i c o n Pa p e r, 2 9 . 7 x 2 1 c m ( 2 01 5 / 1 6 )
T H E N I G H T B E C A M E S TA L E & S T I F F
B U T I S T I L L LOV E D H E R . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . O i l o n B o a r d , 6 0 x 5 0 c m ( 2 01 5 )
U N T I T L E D ( B L E S S T H I S M E S S ) . . . . . . . . . . C h a r c o a l o n Pa p e r, 2 9 . 7 x 2 1 c m ( 2 01 5 / 1 6 )
MAN & DOOR
( P O S T D E B AU C H E RY A N D V I C E ) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . O i l a n d A c r y l i c o n L i n e n , 1 5 4 . 4 x 1 2 3 . 8 c m ( 2 01 5 / 1 6 )
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Published by Matlok Griffiths and Darren Knight Gallery, 2016. All rights reserved.
Design by Rick Milovanovic. Photographic documentation by Mia Mala McDonald.