Utopian Melilia The Lucky Country Essay

To whomever it may concern,

I am writing this as a letter of recommendation for the inclusion of the artworks of Danie Mellor and Cia Guo-Qiang for your upcoming exhibition that explores the topic “Utopian Australia – the Lucky Country?” Both artists explore the idea of transformation through landscape, culture and country; employing symbols, narratives, traditions and materials to convey their own ideas on Utopia.

Utopia is defined as being an imagined place or state in which everything is considered to be perfect.

The works presented by Danie Mellor in one of his previous exhibitions was quite patented. Escorted by gold mosaic kangaroos and colourful porcelain dogs the devilish grin of the smiling skull in Piccaninny Paradise greets, rounding a corner. Likewise, the Aboriginal men in Bayi Minyjirral stare out from their peaceful rainforest setting. Witty installations such as Hundreds & Thousands and Take my Bones and Paint Them draw on themes in international contemporary art with their crystal and glass encrusted skulls, while Red Blue and White and Exotic Lies Sacred Ties amplify Mellor’s concerns about our blindness to history and lies of the past. The show screams softly of injustices, Indigenous displacement and carnage, cultural war, environmental degradation and other horrors – all the time hiding behind glitzy mosaic skins and shiny disguises.

Exotic Lies Sacred Ties, delves into the ongoing legacies that was colonialism. Mellor’s art disarms the viewer with glamour and beauty while probing the flaws in what is currently an accepted view of history. His works primarily display large romantic landscapes and post-colonial scenes in east-meets-west tones of blue and white. Meticulously drawn and painted, most of these st...

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...n’s turbulent history; the Berlin wall which divided the city during the Cold War era.

Makes broader statements about human nature itself; representing gaining power and momentum through unity, the pack of wolves appears heroic as it leaps toward the unknown. There is the implication that if we blindly follow ideology or misdirect our strength toward a collective goal, there can be damaging consequences. The resilience if the wolves hints at our difficulty in learning from our mistakes. The transparent glass wall suggests that we may not even be aware that an obstacle is there or know who put it in place, yet it remains impenetrable – invisible barriers can be, “the hardest walls to destroy”

The artist exclaims "I wanted to portray the universal human tragedy, resulting from this blind urge to press forward, the way we try to attain our goals without compromise.”