Rone in Geelong

Excerpts from an essay by Tyrone Wright

The uniqueness of the building presented a lot of logistical challenges, including the limited amount of time the allocated space could be closed to the public for installation and the requirement to return the space to its existing state. The first idea was to paint the walls in the Douglass Gallery, however we couldn’t achieve this in only a few weeks. We then came up with a plan to paint the walls on panels that would then be installed over existing walls, which would give me considerably more time to create the work. Fortuitously, I was given access to a huge warehouse in Melbourne where we built a full-sized replica of the Douglass Gallery so we could hang panels, paint them and set the scene to see how it would all come together (for an exhibition that had, by then, been postponed until early 2021 due to Covid-19).

The theme of the grand reception room was inspired by a trip to Venice in late 2019, where I often found the trompe l'oeil painting within interiors more beautiful, or more dramatic, than the actual marbles and moulded plaster details. I’m not sure if the faux effects (of 2-D trompe l’oeil) show a craftsmanship that can be lost in the production of the three-dimensional forms, or whether paint better represents what it seeks to imitate, but for me, showing an illusion of what could be is sometimes more exciting than what is. My work hints at what could be or what could have been; something I try to exaggerate within each space I work. 

Researching the Gallery’s collection I happened upon Florence Royce’s works. I loved the muted tones of her painted ceramics. They spoke to what I often try to represent: a fading beauty. Building on the reception room concept, I wanted each end of the room to feel different but to have continuity through the space. Light and dark was the answer to this. The sun-faded colours of the lighter end under the glass ceiling contrasting with the soot-stained darker end of the room, the residue of a burnt piano.

Many of the items of furniture are replicas; some are easy to spot, but others are simply altered originals. One example of a replica is the harp made from wood by Callum Preston. The general shape was cut from a few templates and details were added, including strings and a base. I painted the wood gold, then added a patina to age it to fit the era of the room. The harp is a non-functional replica and the piano is damaged and unplayable, but the musical soundtrack that fills the room, composed by Nick Batterham, is very real. 

Excerpts from an essay by Nick Batterham

The soundtrack to the exhibition is a suite of three pieces of classical music featuring musicians from the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra. In response to Rone's concept of the abandoned function room with its two opposing ends being light and dark, the music features two separate ensembles that play off each other in a musical conversation of layered reflections and repetitions.

At the dark end of the room is the piano, augmented by wind and brass, while at the light end a string quartet plays. Melodies intertwine to form one larger ensemble before receding to their respective ends. The ensembles work both separately and together.

Nick Batterham is a Melbourne singer-songwriter known for performing with internationally revered bands including Blindside, The Earthmen and Cordrazine. He has also worked extensively in sound design for film and television, winning plaudits for his compositions for documentaries such as Lionel (2008), Unchartered Waters (2013) and Dying To Live (2018).

nickbatterham.com