Troy Emery & Justin Cooper

Overview

I never imagined seeing pom poms and sequins genuinely used in an art piece after I left primary school, nay, year three. But Troy Emery has a way with craft glue my kindergarten teacher would be proud of. In his first solo exhibition, Emery displays his 'Wild Things'. Creatures like the Emerald Python, or What is Not Commonly Held in Nature or Art are exactly that — animals, exhibits, taxidermied artefacts. You'll look on Wild Things/New Sculpture like the Romans looked upon giraffes and lions in the Colosseum.

Justin Cooper's The Avid Spectator/Amused is just as surreal and wild. In this exhibition, Cooper takes images from his day to day observations and explores his subconscious. His liberal employment of juxtaposed faces, colour and subject matter is slightly unnerving and confronting. Beauty is buried deep in these images, despite the bright, conflicting application of watercolour and ink that makes the images all the more striking.

Image: Troy Emery, 'Wild Thing'