Exhibits,

Myra McElhinney and Jessica McElhinney Twice As Nice

Opening: Wednesday 6 November, 6-8pm Dates: 6-23 November 2013

In recent times there has been a growing interest in relationships created by art, in artists forming partnerships based primarily on shared ideas about art. However in the case of Myra and Jessica McElhinney, their relationship began at birth. If they were not related would they be collaborating, who knows? Their exhibition, Twice As Nice, explores what happens when individual objectives and open-ended collaboration meet. Using each other’s works as a springboard for new pieces, Twice As Nice, is a strange tag team between artistic intention and uncertain outcomes.

Myra McElhinney is a Melbourne based painter whose art practice is largely concerned with the sense of nostalgia found in common representations of the home and in family portraiture. She often paints her family and pets set amongst extraordinary and surreal surrounds. Since completing a Bachelor of Fine Arts at RMIT in 2010 Myra has exhibited her work in Australia at First Site Gallery and McClelland Gallery and Sculpture Park, and internationally at the Estonian Academy of Art.

The video works of Jessica McElhinney revolve around the practice of performance and distorted self-portraiture, and more recently have displayed an increasing interest in the mechanics of Hollywood. Since completing a Bachelor of Fine Arts (Honours) at RMIT in 2009 she has been exhibiting around Australia. Recent exhibitions include solo exhibition ‘The Jess Trap’ which was shown at the Centre for Contemporary Photography in 2013 and group shows ‘So You Say’ at West Space in 2012 and ‘Dr. Jekyll and Ms. Flowerface’ at 24 HR Art Northern Territory Centre for Contemporary Art in 2011.