`fables' Of Naive Figures
The Age
Wednesday July 3, 1996
JENNY WATSON's work has been called insipid, conservative and comically ill-done by Australian art critics. She has been both savaged and celebrated: she was the first woman to represent Australia with a solo show at the Venice Biennale (1993), winner of the Portia Geach Memorial Award (1990) and has a substanial international reputation. Watson says it's all to do with provincialism and the tall poppy syndrome. ``In Germany and New York (where she is represented) collectors and galleries are more informed."
The painting featured (I will not say that I will not drink that water) is in her latest show. It uses one panel of a gold synthetic fabric and another from an old blue doona. Watson likes to juxtapose banal lists of words with naively drawn child figures: ``the cool, deadpan information with the pictures like little fables," she says. Her images have included animals and an Alice in Wonderland series. ``There is more emotional directness with a naive figure." It is all highly personal and she is not comfortable with specific explanations of the images, preferring viewers to take what they will. Her paintings cost an average of $9000.
Anna Schwartz Gallery, 185 Flinders Lane until 31 July.
© 1996 The Age