Michelle Molinari’s exhibition explores the duality that exists in both the physical and conceptual contemplation of still-life practice. As a process still life deals with the literal translation of duplicating the subject, as an intimate reflection of the artist’s view. ‘Reflect’ therefore seeks to represent both the painted interpretation of reflective surfaces and the rumination of the taxidermic subject; inviting the viewer to reflect on notions of mortality and the human relationship to nature.
Catalogue Essay by Melanie Caple 2021 Reflect explores the duality that exists in both the physical and conceptual contemplation of still-life practice. Molinari’s oeuvre is one of an almost obsessive desire to capture the fleeting notions of life and death in oil, honouring the subjects she chooses to paint by elevating each feather, each glassy eye and flash of colour with a refined deftness and lightness of touch that few in this contemporary age can conjure.
Molinari’s still life compositions combine both natural and man-made objects, forcing an association and conversation to occur within the frame. This, ultimately, is a reflection on our current existence with the natural world, one where interventions of man are scarcely unseen. Her practice, she describes, is a ‘synthesis’ of these juxtapositions, and an active forcing of a relationship and co-habitation of her subjects. Molinari actively recreates the appearance of birds, insects and bones through taxidermy and casting, an art in itself that the artist has honed to facilitate her investigations. These poised owls, rosellas, zebra finches, cicadas and bones can be perceived as both real and artificial at once, and are a marker of the artist ever present – through the creation of the composition, the immortalising of objects and considered presentation to us as the viewer.
Another aspect of reflection portrayed within these exquisitely executed works is the presence of the artist herself. Us, as the viewers of these paintings, gaze at Molinari’s likeness as she in turn examines the compositions before her, just as artists throughout history have situated themselves within their compositions. There was Vermeer, and his presentations of himself as painter capturing subject poised before him, appearing a handful of times in the 36 paintings that have been attributed to him. There was Velasquez, and his bold portrayal of himself as esteemed artist situated within the royal Spanish family in his commissioned painting ‘Las Meninas'. The depiction that comes to mind most clearly while admiring Molinari’s use of portraiture however is the uncovered self-portrait of Caravaggio in his work ‘Bacchus’, painted between 1596 and 1597. It was during a series of restorations that the reflection of Caravaggio was discovered in the wine jug’s surface, and it is in Moliari’s work ‘Owl with Spherical Mirrors’, that we most clearly notice the artist admiring the owl before her. This is exactly the artist’s intention, acting as a visual acknowledgment of her actions and role within the work – suspending herself and her objects in time.
‘The reflected or mirrored surface has been something that has been of interest for a while. Both the physical properties of reflected light and the symbolism attached to it are of significance. It reflects truth and awareness, which tie the conceptual threads of my practice together.’ This reflection is a presentation and interpretation of an examined relationship that the artist has to these subjects and their mortality, as she seeks to immortalise herself and these soft, feather-cloaked muses in paint.
Image above: Detail of frame moulding. Molinari adds incredible detail to these ornate mouldings with the addition of moulded birds and an owl skull form.
ARTIST PROFILE A graduate of the Victorian College of the Arts Michelle Mollinari joined the FLG stable in 2013 after winning the FLG Emerging artist Award. She has been a finalist in the Eutick Memorial Still Life Award (2019, 2018, 2016), the Fisher's Ghost Art Award (2018) and the AME Bale Travelling Scholarship (2016). In 2017 her work was curated into the Art Gallery of Ballarat's group exhibition Romancing the Skull which explored themes of mortality, politics and rebellion. In the same year her work was included in Close Encounters a group exhibition at Gippsland Art Gallery. Molinari has been the recipient of the Graeme Hildebrant Foundation Travel Grant (2014) which allowed her to undertake residencies in both New York (USA) and in Florence (Italy), the Fiona Myer Award (2012) and the Majlis Encouragement Award (2012). Her work is held in the Gippsland Art Gallery Collection, The Stirling Collective and The Art Students League of New York, USA This will be her fourth solo exhibition with FLG.
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