Jordan Marani: X-Mas is a Four-Letter Word

Overview

You really have to love an exhibition that features both a pink portrait of Hitler and a collage made from a Melbourne Bitter box. Okay, you don't — but you should.

Jordan Marani is a Melbourne artist who has been on the scene for a while. He is the co-founder of Hell Gallery, and his work has been exhibited at both the National Gallery of Victoria and the Tate Modern. But don't let the resume give you the wrong impression. Marani's work is much more akin to Rosenquist than Renoir.

Gloriously kitsch and sometimes straight-up dirty, the works in X-Mas is a Four-Letter Word are self-aware, relatable, and more importantly — funny. Like a working man's Warhol, Marani is examining the discarded remnants of the everyday. VB stubbies and house-keys are propped up next to a haphazard portrait of Winston Churchill and some garish portrayals of TV newsreaders. The portraits of Churchill and Hitler even hail from a larger group of works cheekily titled C.H.R.I.S.T. — a series which features C.H.R.I.S.T. (Roosevelt), C.H.R.I.S.T. (Stalin), and C.H.R.I.S.T. (Christ).

X-Mas is a Four-Letter Word is showing at Daine Singer till October 5, then Marani's new show Idiot as an Artist (Don't Know Don't Care Mate) will be at West Space from October 18. That only leaves 13 Marani-free days for you to spend mulling over the inherent wisdom of his artwork names. My favourites are My Head Hurts and my Beer is Flat, Wogs Play Footy too, and the eternal — DUMBSHIT.