Sutton Gallery is pleased to present The Desultory Arabesque by John Meade. Featuring new works which utilise a variety of mediums and techniques, the exhibition showcases the expressive and evocative power of Meade’s sculptural forms.

Through playful manipulation, Meade creates glossy surfaces and seductive shapes that offer an intriguing mix of material enterprise and cultural observation. Prior to the conjuring processes that result in unforeseen objects, his abstract forms have their beginnings in the real world. Indeed, without literally representing figures or human actions, his sculptures contain astute associations to the flesh and bodily subjectivities. Mixed with the suggestive iconographies of pop culture, fashion, cinema and gay erotica, the body acts as a base from which Meade explores themes relating to beauty, repulsion, strength, creativity, sex and desire.

‘The Desultory Arabesque’ is a self-reflexive title which refers to the diversity of Meade’s style and, tellingly, he has produced a number of works that engage with and respond to earlier and distinct developments in his practice. Multiple designs recur in altered or revised forms – for example, Mean Yellow (Red) 2011, a large-scale silk screen edition, recalls the ‘bad wig’ previously seen in Mean Yellow 1994, while Siamese 2011 utilises the same blue polyethylene bristles as Meade’s 2010 Gertrude Edition Screw Babs. Furthermore, the Corolla works, which feature a series of minimal, warm, abstracted petal forms mounted to the gallery wall, are drawn from Riverside Corolla 2011, a public work commissioned by Satellite Art Projects for DEXUS as part of their landmark redevelopment of Southgate. As one of Australia’s leading sculptors, these various re-inventions highlight the depth, skill, beauty and humour which has characterised Meade’s practice for over 15 years: as Meade admits, ‘this is a good place to be as a sculptor, because I can now see the continuum of a developing style in my work’.