FOR visual artist Jon Lam, variety really is the spice of life, and that ethos will be on display during his upcoming exhibition next week.<\/p>\n
Titled Art, Sweat, and Cheers, the show will be Lam\u2019s 10th solo display and his fourth in Ballarat since moving to the region in 2019.<\/p>\n
He said the exhibition will showcase his eclectic style.<\/p>\n
\u201cWith private galleries, they always want a theme or style and that\u2019s not what I am as an artist or even as a person,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
\u201cMaybe it\u2019s the Gemini, double personality in me, but I like different things and want to try everything.<\/p>\n
\u201cBecause I\u2019m trained as a graphic artist, I\u2019m trained in all things whether it\u2019s watercolour, acrylic, oil, pastel. It will show in this exhibition.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019ve had exhibitions where people have said to me \u2018If you told me there were three artists in this show, I would\u2019ve believed you\u2019.\u201d<\/p>\n
Taking place at the Mercure Ballarat, the exhibition will be opened by Lam\u2019s fellow Ballarat Society of Artists member John Canham.<\/p>\n
A lifelong artist, Lam studied graphic design at the Gordon Institute of Technology, now The Gordon, when he moved to Australia in 1970.<\/p>\n
Having taught art for more than 30 years, he said his own output has become more intense in the last decade.<\/p>\n
The upcoming show will feature more than 50 works roughly 60 per cent of which will be recent pieces while the remainder will serve as a retrospective of Lam\u2019s life and development.<\/p>\n
\u201cOne will be a work from when I was studying in Geelong in the 1970s,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
\u201cThere\u2019s another which is a painting I did for my mum in 1990, then I\u2019ve got a huge black-and-white portrait of John Lennon from 2001.<\/p>\n
\u201cThere are a lot of things in there that matter to me personally like current political issues. One painting, for example is of a woman wearing a rainbow-coloured hijab. It\u2019s about different types of people, and equality.\u201d<\/p>\n
Art, Sweat, and Cheers is on show at the Mercure from Thursday 23 November until Sunday 17 December.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
FOR visual artist Jon Lam, variety really is the spice of life, and that ethos will be on display during his upcoming exhibition next week. Titled Art, Sweat, and Cheers, the show will be Lam\u2019s 10th solo display and his fourth in Ballarat since moving to the region in 2019. He said the exhibition will […]<\/p>\n