HARD LOVE

Friday 6 June - Sunday 6 July 2008

Artist: Megan Keating

2007 Devonport Regional Gallery Solo Commission

Hard Love explored some of the issues and clichés surrounding the emotions of ‘love'. The artist presented an installation of text, figurative imagery and motifs created from rubber, painted imagery, and painted text.

By combining some favourite clichés like ‘don't get me wrong, I think you're a really great person it's just that I'm not that into you' and cut-out silhouetted imagery, Hard Love referenced the way we communicate sensations and feelings associated with love in a media saturated, consumer driven society.  The sentiments in the exhibition were not always warm and fuzzy but they were not that insightful either. Despite the humour of Keating's exhibition, it was a little too pointed to laugh at. The work, at times, cut dangerously close to the bone with its slick, graphic presentation as it fluctuated from sharp critique to playful celebration. 

This is the fourth Solo Artist Commission administered by the Devonport Regional Gallery.  The aim of the commission is to provide support for emerging Tasmanian artists, enabling them to develop a solo exhibition in consultation with Gallery staff.  The grant is accompanied by a catalogue including an essay about the exhibition by a writer of the artist's choice.

Ashley Crawford, Catalogue Essay

Megan Keating, 2008, What the world needs now, Rubber and acrylic on canvas	Megan Keating, 2008, The great communicator, Rubber and acrylic on canvas
Megan Keating, 2008, Dont get me wrong (detail) from the series We need to talk, Acrylic on canvas	Megan Keating, 2008, (L-R) Tying the knot, Rubber and acrylic on canvas, and We need to talk series,  Acrylic on canvas