On This Island by Antonia Perricone-Mrljak
Using colour and instinct as her guide, Sydney-based artist Antonia Perricone-Mrljak invites life in our island country into her upcoming show for James Makin Gallery.
Words: Emma-Kate Wilson
Antonia Perricone-Mrljak in her studio. Photo: Claudia Lowe.
‘On This Island’ represents the very notion of isolation in juxtaposition with the togetherness that everyone is sharing that isolation,’ says Antonia Perricone-Mrljak. Photo: Claudia Lowe.
On This Island is Antonia Perricone-Mrljak’s debut show at James Makin Gallery, Melbourne, where she explores her memories as a migrant child growing up in Australia. The result is emotive, vibrant artworks that straddle the boundaries between abstract paintings and performance. Her action on the canvas as much as the final piece as the paint itself.
The impetus for the exhibition acknowledges the community that engages with her performance (though one on hold due to lockdown) — considering Antonia’s own narrative at one with her audience. ‘When I am creating art as a public performance or for exhibition, there is a significant level of community engagement,’ she muses. ‘The success of that process really got me thinking about the community that I was engaging with and what their life experiences might be.’
The paintings that reveal themselves post-performance are full of gestural mark-making, each an imprinting of the collective narrative from Australia — the people, the memories, the culture. These influences are also seen within the colour palette, Antonia reflecting, ‘the richness of colour experienced in food, in music and dance, in cultural dress, language and festivals permeate the Greater Sydney landscape throughout the year.’
As the daughter of migrants who left their home behind for life in Australia, Antonia muses on our isolated island, without family and heritage at her doorstep. It was an independent childhood while her parents worked.
‘The colour of these experiences mixes with my own memories of culture, and so my art is a natural expression and responds to that colour and composition of real life,’ says Antonia Perricone-Mrljak. Photo: Claudia Lowe.
You never let go of those things by Antonia Perricone-Mrljak from her exhibition On This Island at James Makin Gallery.
‘At five years old, I walked to kindergarten by myself and picked up other children on the way. In my own isolation, I had responsibility,’ she shares. ‘This is the story of migrant children past and present, children growing up with absent parents striving to make a living in a new country for a better life.’
Antonia brings everything with her into her ‘medium’, abandoning classic tropes of a ‘paint on canvas’ artist — instead, it is holistically intuitive, filled with life and expression. One she considers as art to transcend culture, facilitating participation between composer and responder.
“Rather than the focus of the work being about me, I wanted to make marks that represent other people’s stories as I hear them. ”
‘My experience as a daughter of immigrants is expressed through my practice of abstract art,’ she shares. ‘It doesn’t just ‘represent’ my cultural experience; however, it transcends my experiences and hopefully those of others.’
Full of expression, life, and deep, gestural colours, On This Island is the union between our isolated homes and the potential for creativity. As Antonia’s art practice reminds herself, and in turn, her viewers: ‘it is the opportunity to live and be the best person and version of myself — what a privilege.’
That picture you have in your mind III by Antonia Perricone-Mrljak from her exhibition On This Island at James Makin Gallery.
To the good life by Antonia Perricone-Mrljak from her exhibition On This Island at James Makin Gallery.
Making notes on this that was then (blue) by Antonia Perricone-Mrljak from her exhibition On This Island at James Makin Gallery.
That picture you have in your mind IV by Antonia Perricone-Mrljak from her exhibition On This Island at James Makin Gallery.
VISIT
ON THIS ISLAND AT JAMES MAKIN GALLERY
Virtual exhibition 14th - 29th August 2021