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Speech Patterns: Nadia Hernández and Jon Campbell
Jon Campbell All the boys 1984. Oil and enamel paint, cotton duck, 106 x 206 cm. Courtesy of the artist and Darren Knight Gallery, Sydney. © Jon Campbell.
Nadia Hernández Entre todo, la gloria y la paz (Among everything, glory and peace) 2020. Paper cut, framed 71 x 90 cm. Courtesy the artist and STATION. © Nadia Hernández.
Speech Patterns: Nadia Hernández and Jon Campbell
Speech Patterns is an entwined and layered conversation between the work of contemporary artists Nadia Hernández and Jon Campbell.
This vibrant exhibition is full of life, poetry and feeling and is comprised of paintings, paste-ups, drawings, posters, banners and flags from across the span of their individual practices.
Both artists mobilise the rhythms, harmonies and dissonances of written and pictorial language to deal with experiences of relocation, questions around identity, class, cultural and national value systems. Within this, they offer their voices both in direct political protest and in celebration and critique of everyday life, values and relationships.
For Hernández – born in Mérida, Venezuela, and now based between Melbourne and Sydney – her practice is a way of keeping alive her connection to friends, family and place while calling on the spirit of protest to unsettle the given global disorder that has displaced her and her family.
And for Campbell – born in Belfast, Northern Ireland, and growing up in Melbourne's western suburbs – his work is a wryly humourous exploration of the layered and complicated contingencies of the ever-shifting Australian condition as it is embraced, repressed, and rebelled against.
Guided by their approaches to thinking and making and reflecting on their places in the world, both artists' works evidence a warm feeling of inclusion that is fundamentally social in nature.
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The publication features essays by artists and writers Lisa Radford and Diego Ramírez, along with exhibition curator Robert Cook. Radford locates Hernández's work in relation to longing and belonging, Venezuelan political history and the context of her own growing friendship with the artist. Ramirez hones in on a single work by Campbell, placing himself in biting and funny performative dialogue with it to play out its ramifications in today’s social realm. Cook’s contribution examines the artistic strategies of Hernández and Campbell to chart their similarities and differences of approach to language and power that ground their particular contributions to Australian cultural life.
While emerging from different cultural and generational experiences, their practices share a powerful commitment to the grain and poetry of egalitarian yearning and grassroots resistance. This results in punchy and wholly accessible works and installations that celebrate the possibility of popular, oral and familial cultures to unite people historically, politically and socially.
AGWA Curator of Western Australian and Australian Art
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Jon Campbell Your application was unsuccessful 2022. Synthetic polymer on linen, 167.5 x 243. 5 cm. The State Art Collection, The Art Gallery of Western Australia. © Jon Campbell.
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Nadia Hernández Cae el telón de la noche, un ejército de luces entretejen la ciudad (The curtain of the night falls, an army of lights interlace the city) 2018. Wool, cotton, seeds, ribbon, clay, wood, metals, canvas, oil stick, wool felt, vintage pins, acrylic, grommets, thread and rope, 166 x 197 cm. Courtesy the artist and STATION. © Nadia Hernández.
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Jon Campbell Fuck Yeah (Matisse) 2015. Enamel and acrylic paint, cottonduck, 41 x 56 cm. Courtesy of the artist and Darren Knight Gallery, Sydney. © Jon Campbell.
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Nadia Hernández "Pinta flores, pinta acuacates, pinta un bodegón ileno de cosas que te gustan, pinta algo que hayas cocinado con, tu madre, pinta..." 2022. Oil on linen, 198 x 137 cm. Collection of River Capital. © Nadia Hernández.
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Jon Campbell It's gonna take a lotta love 2008. Bunting cotton handstitched reverse applique. Unique state, 200 x 120 cm. Courtesy of the artist and Darren Knight Gallery, Sydney. © Jon Campbell.
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Nadia HernándezDe agua de azahar y mantequilla a temperatura ambiente (Of orange blossom water and butter at room temperature) 2021. Paper cut, 71 x 90 cm (framed). © Nadia Hernández.
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Jon Campbell Peace and love 2021. Acrylic paint, collage, pencil, cottonduck, 182.5 x 60.5 cm. Courtesy of the artist and Darren Knight Gallery, Sydney. © Jon Campbell.
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Nadia Hernández Como el sol y toda su energía (Like the sun and all its energy) 2020. Wool, cotton, linen, oi stick, acrylic, flashe, ribbon, grommets and rope, dimensions variable. The State Art Collection, The Art Gallery of Western Australia. © Nadia Hernández.
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Jon Campbell Group tutorial 2013. Acrylic, enamel paint, cottonduck, unstretched, 98 x 51 cm. Courtesy of the artist and Darren Knight Gallery, Sydney. © Jon Campbell.
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Nadia Hernández Las matas en mi casa, golondrina viajera y citricos (The plants in my house, travelling swallow and citrus) 2019. Oil on linen, 102 x 84 cm. Courtesy of the Walters Family. © Nadia Hernández.
AGWA TV | Speech Patterns
AGWA TV | Speech Patterns Artist Talk
