Wail Songs, 2011

The Museum of Natural Mystery, Perth, Australia

Press Release:

Ben Barretto’s art practice to date can be discussed as a single ongoing series of performative experiments that investigate the idea of an assisted painting. These experiments often result in an uncertain dialogue between the processes of the performances and the aesthetics of the paintings produced by them; does one inform the other and which is more important to the work?

Continuing this trajectory in Wail Songs, Barretto dons the hat of ‘composer’ and by rearranging his familiar materials (scrap timber, oscillating fans, paint scrapers, canvas) he will construct a painting with sound, further examining the tension between process and product. The work will be undertaken and exhibited at The Museum on Saturday the 24th of September from 6-10pm and on Sunday the 25th of September from 12-4pm.