Moonage Daydream 

Curator: This oil painting by Tania Rivilis, aptly titled "Moonage Daydream," offers us a curious scene of repose. What catches your eye first? Editor: Definitely the texture! The impasto application of the paint gives such physicality to the subjects. You can almost feel the weight and warmth of the bodies and fabrics. It suggests a handcrafted quality that elevates it beyond a mere depiction. Curator: Precisely! Considering the use of oil paint—a medium that requires both skill and investment—it places this work within a lineage of fine art traditions, while simultaneously disrupting conventions of subject matter. There's an undeniable focus on the sensuality of the figures, but the setting and poses suggest something beyond simple beauty. How do you interpret the subject matter? Editor: Well, the grouping hints at a genre painting, perhaps even echoing depictions of Ophelia, yet its refusal to clearly signal an easily definable narrative frustrates easy categorization. There is no evident purpose, and the grouping challenges idealized relationships in favour of... what? The public impact is really interesting. Is it inviting speculation or deliberately obfuscating meaning? Curator: It raises interesting questions about how contemporary figurative painting functions. Is the value simply in the artist’s skillful application of paint, the commodity value associated with her artistic labor? I would argue the materiality of the oil paint itself, its historical baggage and connotations of craft tradition, elevate what may have been just simple subject matter into something far more thought provoking. Editor: It does highlight that push-pull between art as something deeply individualistic – we are drawn to these individuals – and art as a construct, placed and presented for our public viewing. In that sense it really encapsulates that dynamic relationship between the individual and the institution. Curator: So, thinking about the artist's choices – from her medium, her technique and subject, all become active elements of meaning-making in their own right and impact how we see the art. Editor: A piece that really rewards, even demands, you look beyond what's being represented to *how* it's being represented and *why*. Thanks for shining light on that materiality, really shifts the viewing.