memoirs of a failed painter

Poking fun at his own occupation, Brisbane-based sculptor Alasdair Macintyre opens a solo exhibition tonight, at the Ryan Renshaw Gallery . Entitled Splatsville: Memoirs of a Failed Painter, the exhibition consists of small sculptures that reflect a cartoonish style, like a cross between Noddy and Postman Pat figurines. Having used a mix of polymer clay and polyurethane resin to make the miniature figures, Alasdair also used materials such as wood, cardboard and acrylic paint to create the light-hearted scenes. One such scene depicts a man chasing a winged latrine, the latter of which looks like Marcel Duchamp’s Fountain (in which the artist signed a latrine with the word, “R.Mutt 1917� and exhibited the piece as a ready made artwork, much to traditionalists’ disgust. Although controversial, Fountain is one of Duchamp’s’ most well-know artworks and was recently voted one of the most influential artworks of the 20th century.) Another of Alasdair’s piece’...