Toowoomba artist explores contemporary notions of portraiture

Toowoomba portrait artist Sue McMaster has unveiled a new body of work titled, Deep in conversation, that is on display at the Toowoomba Regional Art Gallery until September 27.

McMaster said her solo exhibition explored portraiture and the notion of data loss.

She said she asked questions about the very nature of portraiture and was interested in how much information could be shed from an image before it became meaningless.

“I work with data loss, originally triggered by an interest in our constant input of pictures from tiny photos on mobile phones,” she said.

In previous years, I have looked at cropping the face, reducing the number of colours in the palette of a portrait, replacing areas with other images and exploring how much information you can lose before a portrait stops being a portrait.

The work also seeks to employ the viewer as a participant in the artwork.

“By utilising data loss, I interrupt the search for resemblance or recognition and release the viewer to concentrate on other aspects of the work,” she said.

“I invite them to contemplate my motivation, ask themselves who are the participants and, at a minimum, engage in some level of thought before they move on. I want to have that conversation with viewers through my artwork.”

McMaster lives and creates her works in the Toowoomba Region and has been a practising artist for more than 25 years.

Toowoomba Regional Art Gallery is open from 10.30am to 3.30pm Tuesday to Saturday and Sunday from 1pm to 4pm.

For more information, please visit: http://user.tr.qld.gov.au/art-gallery-by-year 

This exhibition is part of the Cam Robertson Gallery exhibition program that showcases the work of artists, curators and arts organisations in the Toowoomba Region.

DETAIL: Suzanne McMASTER / Deep in Conversation 2019 / acrylic on canvas / 100 x 100cm / Reproduced by kind permission © the artist