Tim Vagg SHAMO 2023
synthetic polymer paint and mixed media on polycotton 122 x 122 cms SOLD
SHAMO is a contrivance, an invented brand logo. It is a corruption of OMO brand washing powder. OMO ads featured heavily in magazines of the 70's and 80's as did full page ads for Winfield cigarettes. OMO had the tagline 'Keeping whites whiter' and 'Brightest whites!' I wanted to explore the potential role these suggestive subtexts had on bolstering mythologies of a white only male Australian identity to the exclusion of 'the other.' I also liked the suggestiveness of an allegory of a product that perhaps washes away stains, maybe a 'convict stain' or washing away by-products like violence, a by-product of empire and colonisation.
What interested me is the imagery that is deployed to firstly be dominant in the culture and wash away other narratives and obscure stories from view. Through this lens, I have also played around with the well known slogan '...anyhow* have a Winfield.' Giving a little nod to the billboard hijacking graffiti protest art of the BUGA UP group that I saw around Melbourne streets as a teen.
Tim Vagg BE IN IT 2023
synthetic polymer paint and mixed media on polycotton 122 x 92 cms
……This piece explores the use of logos and brands of the 1970’s and 80’s such as OMO washing powder and LIFE BE IN IT, over-layed in such a way as to suggest other subtexts about the propagation and reinforcement of the white Australian male mythology….
Tim Vagg WIZZ FIZZ 2023
synthetic polymer paint and mixed media on polycotton 106 x 82 cms
Tim Vagg FREEDUM 2023
synthetic polymer paint and mixed media on polycotton 122 X 92 cms
……. In contrast, I am also interested in how REAL historical events like Eureka, can have their symbols and significance be co-opted, appropriated and misrepresented by those who might weaponise them for their political ends……
Tim Vagg …ANYHOW* 2023
synthetic polymer paint and mixed media on polycotton 102 X 77 cms
…Imagery has been gleaned from both cartoons and adverts from the Australasian Post magazine juxtaposed with imagery from Australian Pictorial Social Studies educational books, both propagators of wildy stylised and inaccurate takes on Australian history….
Tim Vagg ARCHAEOLOGY IN REVERSE 2023
synthetic polymer paint and mixed media on polycotton 122 x 92 cms SOLD
……When you think of how archaeologists dig up and discover the stories of the past, I was thinking about how the propagation of Australian masculine mythologies actually has the opposite effect of silencing and burying stories of ‘the other.’
Tim Vagg BLUEY AND CURLY 2023
synthetic polymer paint and mixed media on polycotton 61 x 92 cms
to enquire contact vaggpaintings@gmail.com
Tim Vagg THIS LAND IS OURS THEY KNOW THAT 2023
mixed media collage on magazine cover 26 x 34 cms
…..In working up studies for these paintings, I started experimenting with using drawing and collage directly onto Australasian Post magazine covers. Here I utilised fragments of post cards and snippets from the Australian Pictorial Social Studies history books. For me these highly sensationalised and kitsch publications offer a take on Australian culture and history that are a kind of pornography in themselves….
Tim Vagg AUSTRALIA’S SHAME 2023
mixed media collage on magazine cover 26 x 34 cms
Tim Vagg REVOLT 2023
synthetic polymer paint and mixed media on aluminium composition panels (5 x 47cm x 54cm panels) 235cm x 54cm cms
to enquire contact vaggpaintings@gmail.com