The Boys Light Up

Samuel Massey

7 - 18 July

Please join us for the opening celebration Thursday 9th June 6-8pm

These paintings are an unruly bunch. They were created in the wake of my marriage ending, that beautiful twelve-year partnership crumbled quite quickly in the end. I was in an arcade carpark for that last call, amongst trash and trolleys. The boys painted here helped me look on the bright side of life in a chapter who’s first page was written in the bleak midwinter. In some cases, they capture and in others they channel the chaos and colour that I clung to on my way back from the black. The balm these boys brewed slowly stitched me back together. They gave me pictures to play with and amongst the lessons learned and lessons forgotten I’ll remember there’s plenty of love when the boys light up.

Massey is an award-winning artist who completed his Bachelor of Fine Arts (Honours) at the National Art School, Sydney in 2015. In the following years he produced two major bodies of work. The first was selected for exhibition at the Gosford Regional Gallery as part of Emerging 2017. The subsequent series formed his first solo exhibition in 2018.

​Moving forward he was shortlisted in a string of prizes and exhibited regularly in group exhibitions. Highlights include winning the Fisher’s Ghost Traditional Art Prize. A Mayoral commendation for his painting The Gates and critical acclaim for his portrait of Archibald Winner Guy Maestri. More recently, the solo exhibition A Lullaby For Suffering marked his first solo exhibition in Victoria. Most recently Massey has reengaged with dramatic narratives, using personal experiences and Baroque influences as ignition points for symbolically ambiguous scenes with surreal characters both animal and human.