Provenance
Sarah Cottier Gallery, Sydney
Acquired from the above by the present owner in 2003
Exhibited
Matthys Gerber, Museum of Contemporary Art, Sydney, 22 September-6 December 2015
Literature
N Bullock, Matthys Gerber, MCA, exh. cat. illus.
Gerber's Sydney is a work that combines Pop Art and Post-Modernism in a contemporary combination of colour, text and geometric grids. The painting playfully teases the perceived failings of the city that Gerber calls his home, with the smug declaration '...Sydney it COULD be soooo GOOD'. Combining sign-writing sloganism with aspects of high abstraction, Gerber's slick painting style and his attention to form and paint surface creates an emotionally-lacking image, which imbues his work with a sense of superficiality or heavy irony depending on the perspective of the viewer. In this work, a number of Gerber's influences are apparent, including the smooth plasticity of Kippenberger and Koons, and the hybrid style of Francis Picabia. Gerber's often cited reference to the music of The Beatles is also evidenced in the rhythmic patterning of the canvas.