In conjunction with a national rock n roll extravaganza -
“St Valentine’s Day Massacre Tour” - the motor-city’s most infamous pop art Dame returns to Oz with a sharp shooting collection of new paintings and fresh prints under the banner Niagara Phobia. Known for her vintage-pulp flavoured tableaux of femme fatales, opium dens and noir mystery – Niagara has an authentic pedigree in punk rock, pop art and tough living.
A painter with an impressive history of international exhibitions and acclaim, she is famed for being the lead avant-garde chanteuse with the now legendary Destroy All Monsters (which spawned such art novas as Mike Kelly and Jim Shaw, and included guitar innovator, the late Ron Asheton and his brother Scott from The Stooges), who charted new territories, pushing the boundaries of punk into sublime abstraction alongside punk peers such as Debbie Harry and Patti Smith.
Alongside her rock-diva exploits Niagara’s painting career never took a backseat. Melding a sincerely Warholian aesthetic with a post-pulp style Niagara portrayed a hard-boiled world where gun toting, out-of-control women rule the school, and the hallucinogenic haze of debauchery translates into an obsessively painted world of wonder.
From classic pop art crispness right through to opium dazzled collages – Niagara is a painter with a captivating vision who mixes a palette of blood reds, powder-room pinks and death-knell blues.
exhibition of original paintings and limited edition prints by US pop artist Niagara
Melbourne
Thursday 1 April 2010, from 7pm
Outré Gallery, 249 Elizabeth St, Melbourne VIC 3000
Sydney
Thursday 8 April 2010, from 6pm
Outré Sydney, 13a Burton St, Darlinghurst NSW 2010
Exhibitions continue in both cities until 21 April 2010