Angel­i­ca Mesi­ti: Choose Hap­pi­ness’ Mur­ray Art Muse­um Albury


Hap­pi­ness is by its very nature ephemer­al. Some­times it is a state that we might only iden­ti­fy in hind­sight. Increas­ing­ly there is an expec­ta­tion that we should be hap­py all the time (fuelled by the self help move­ment and pro­lif­er­a­tion of well­ness apps), putting fur­ther pres­sure and expec­ta­tion on these tem­po­ral moments. Choose Hap­pi­ness is a group exhi­bi­tion of work by emerg­ing, mid-career and estab­lished artists from Aus­tralia and Aotearoa New Zealand that acknowl­edges hap­pi­ness as a tran­sient state, one only tru­ly under­stood through expe­ri­enc­ing its oppo­site.

For some, joy comes through the very act of mak­ing — in the bright brush­strokes of Angela Brennan’s ebul­lient can­vas­es or in the urgent, painter­ly scrib­bles of Salome Tanu­vasa, enact­ed amidst the flur­ry of every­day fam­i­ly life. For oth­ers, hap­pi­ness is tied to place — in the radi­ant, unmedi­at­ed plea­sure of paint­ing on Coun­try evi­denced in the land­scapes of Gwen­neth Blit­ner or in the mosh pit of a rock con­cert filmed in slow motion by Angel­i­ca Mesi­ti (a sight made all the more poignant in the age of social dis­tanc­ing). Choose Hap­pi­ness shifts between these exal­ta­tions of joy and more dark­ly humor­ous per­spec­tives — Yvonne Todd pho­tographs prim young mod­els with forced smiles, Grant Stevens cre­ates a self help video on steroids, com­plete with new age sound­track and Matthew Har­ris injects his lurid, pop coloured paint­ings with unhinged scenes of deprav­i­ty.

Choose Hap­pi­ness encour­ages us to be kind to our­selves too, by includ­ing works that con­vey strength in vul­ner­a­bil­i­ty. Natasha Mati­la-Smith reveals inte­ri­or states; par­tic­u­lar­ly the desire to love and be loved; Jemi Gale visu­alis­es wish­ful futures impact­ed by haunt­ed pasts; Deme Te Atawhai Scott acknowl­edges the pas­sage of time and the com­plex love of fam­i­ly and Noriko Naka­mu­ra presents uncon­ven­tion­al por­traits of moth­er­hood focus­ing on motherhood’s per­ils and plea­sures.

Hap­pi­ness is com­pli­cat­ed. From aspi­ra­tions and long­ing to joy and eupho­ria, Choose Hap­pi­ness explores the real­i­ties of hap­pi­ness and its many spec­trums.

Exhibit­ing artists: Gwen­neth Blit­ner, Angela Bren­nan, Jemi Gale, Matthew Har­ris, Natasha Mati­la-Smith, Angel­i­ca Mesi­ti, Deme Te Atawhai Scott, Noriko Naka­mu­ra, Grant Stevens, Salome Tanu­vasa and Yvonne Todd.


16 July – 7 Novem­ber, 2021
Paul Ram­say Gal­leries and ANZ/​Zauner Grand Foyer


MAMA, Mur­ray Art Muse­um, Albury
546 Dean St, Albury NSW 2640



Filter

Su san Cohn | Pre­sent­ing the 3rd Engel­horn Jew­ellery Lecture

Ear­rings are for Lis­ten­ing. An Engel­horn Lec­ture at Die Neue Samm­lung3 March 202411amDie […]

Read More

Vivi­enne Shark Lewitt | 18th Ade­laide Bien­ni­al of Aus­tralian Art: Inner Sanctum

18th Ade­laide Bien­ni­al of Aus­tralian Art: Inner Sanc­tum1 March to 2 June, 2024Art Gallery of […]

Read More

Natal­ie King | Cura­tor of the first Tim­or-Leste Pavilion

The first-ever Tim­or-Leste Pavil­ion, which coin­cides with the 25th anniver­sary of the nation’s independence […]

Read More

Maria Madeira | 60TH Inter­na­tion­al Venice Biennale

Kiss and Don’t Tell 20 April – 24 Novem­ber 2024 Tim­or-Leste Pavil­ion at 60th […]

Read More

MIKE PARR | SUN­SET CLAWS | PART 2

An exhi­bi­tion in 3 parts Part 2: Mem­o­ries of Under­de­vel­op­ment 16 — 25 Novem­ber 202 […]

Read More

Intro­duc­ing | Grace Dav­en­port Selth | Direc­tor of Anna Schwartz Gallery

Anna Schwartz is excit­ed to announce the appoint­ment of Grace Dav­en­port Selth as Director […]

Read More

Lim­it­ed places avail­able. Peo­ple enter at their own risk and in com­pli­ance with gallery […]

Read More

Amri­ta Hepi | Plan­e­tary Gestures

Plan­e­tary Ges­tures26 Sep­tem­ber – 3 Novem­ber 2023Walk­er Street Gallery and Art Cen­tre Plan­e­tary Ges­tures is an […]

Read More

Daniel von Sturmer | Elec­tric Light (facts/​figures/​haydens)

Elec­tric Light (facts/​figures/​haydens)23 Sep­tem­ber – 7 Octo­ber 2023Hay­dens Gallery Elec­tric light (facts/​figures) con­tin­ues Daniel von Sturmer’s […]

Read More

LAU­REN BRIN­CAT | BENEATH THE SUR­FACE, BEHIND THE SCENE

Beneath the Sur­face, Behind the Scene­Un­til 22 Octo­ber 2023 Hei­de Muse­um of Mod­ern Art, Melbourne […]

Read More

MIKE PARR | SUN­SET CLAWS | PART 1

An exhi­bi­tion in 3 parts Part 1: Dirty Blan­ket 28 Sep­tem­ber – 8 Novem­ber 2023 Anna […]

Read More

MUT­LUERKEZ | AUDI­TIONS FOR AN UNWRIT­TEN OPERA

Audi­tions for an Unwrit­ten Oper­aUn­til 8 Octo­ber 2023 Staatliche Kun­sthalle Baden-Baden The exper­i­men­tal exhi­bi­tion format […]

Read More

ANGEL­I­CA MESI­TI | TREMBLEMENT

While explor­ing the cor­ri­dors of the Coupole at Galeries Lafayette, I was cap­ti­vat­ed by three […]

Read More

AMRI­TA HEPI | BANKSIARRR

Amri­ta Hepi with Vanes­sa Mor­ris Dis­cussing Straight torque, twin series on Banksia, RRR Amri­ta Hepi joins […]

Read More

Vivi­enne Shark LeWitt | Sine Proprio

Sine Pro­prio7 Sep­tem­ber – 10 Decem­ber 2023Castle­maine Art Muse­um The wind blows where it will […]

Read More

The vast and uncom­pro­mis­ing prac­tice of Mike Parr assumes mul­ti­ple forms through a con­fla­tion of draw­ing, print­mak­ing, sculp­ture and performance.

Half Way House, 2021 dual-chan­nel video, 16:9, 4K, colour, sound 3 hours 18 min­utes Per­former: Mike Parr. Cinematographer […]

Read More

DAVID NOO­NAN | VIVI­ENNE SHARK LEWITT | JEN­NY WAT­SON | Thin Skin

Jen­ny Wat­son White Horse with Tele­scope, 2012 syn­thet­ic poly­mer paint on rab­bit skin glue primed cot­ton 20 […]

Read More

Lau­ren Brin­cat | Per­for­mances on the Quay

Per­for­mances on the Quay 25 — 27 August 2023The Opera House Podi­umPre­sent­ed by MCA & Sydney […]

Read More

Emi­ly Floyd | Cir­cles of dialogue

Cir­cles of dia­logue 15 August — 5 Novem­ber Latrobe Art Insti­tute This exhi­bi­tion takes as its […]

Read More

DAVID NOO­NAN | VIVI­ENNE SHARK LeWITT | JEN­NY WATSON

Thin Skin,Monash Uni­ver­si­ty Muse­um of Art (MUMA) 20 July – 23 Sep­tem­ber, 2023 Thin Skin […]

Read More

ROSE NOLAN | CEN­TRAL STATION

All along­side of each oth­er, 2023 Cen­tral Sta­tion, Syd­ney, Aus­tralia. The pub­lic art­work All alongside […]

Read More

Night­shifts at Bux­ton Contemporary

night­shifts 26 May – 29 Octo­ber 2023 Bux­ton Con­tem­po­rary night­shifts con­sid­ers the impor­tance of […]

Read More

Su san Cohn | Pieces of Peace | Per­for­mances | NGV Mel­bourne Design Week

Su san Cohn​’s exhi­bi­tion Pieces of Peace at Anna Schwartz Gallery from 20 May […]

Read More

Re-Invent­ing Piet. Mon­dri­an and the Con­se­quences | Joseph Kosuth

On view at Kun­st­mu­se­um Wolfs­burg, Ger­many until 16th July 2023, Re-Inven­t­ing Piet. Mon­dri­an and […]

Read More