Verandah 1997

Curator: Ivan Eyre's "Verandah," painted in 1997, really throws a lot at you at once, doesn't it? It's this curious mix of the familiar and the utterly bizarre. Editor: That's an understatement. It’s like a stage set after the play has been abandoned. My first thought is... unsettling. Almost surreal. What are we even looking at? Curator: On the surface, we've got figures caught mid-action in what could be a dilapidated urban landscape or some sort of backstage area. Then there are the odd juxtapositions: the elegant woman in the blue dress seated next to... is that a television with a baby's face on the screen? Editor: And two naked figures up to their eyeballs in bandages as they meticulously cover the whole scene in white paint, as the buildings go on in their serene daily activity, quite unaware. Honestly, it feels like peering into a very odd dream, where realism is just a suggestion. Curator: The socio-political reading for me centres on that stark contrast between the chaotic interior, this artist’s studio, and the seemingly indifferent city skyline in the background. Perhaps Eyre is commenting on the role of art in society—does it mirror the world around us, critique it, or retreat from it? It is like they are creating art out of the city, which is now behind them... Editor: Retreat definitely comes to mind. The scene evokes the artist in their secluded universe, maybe a little crazy from what the public eye and its art expectations are. Painting away, unaware of the cold-hearted city out there, and seemingly immune. It's really powerful. I find it disturbing, but I can't look away. Curator: Agreed, and that unease is likely intentional. I read something where Eyre talks about exploring the spaces between the conscious and unconscious mind in his art, and that certainly rings true here. The city keeps rising anyway... and the babies on screens as well. Editor: It leaves me with a lingering sense of... longing, I think. Like a desire to somehow decode this complex puzzle and perhaps to get out there myself and build it. "Verandah" stays with you, doesn't it?