Ned, Giambattista & a Few Dogs

Influences as diverse as the Kelly Gang, eighteenth-century painter Giovanni Battista Tiepolo, Vivaldi’s operas and the Australian bush prompt Mark Thompson’s series of exuberant and richly layered works. Dogs, angels, magpies. Guys in drag.

The works borrow fragments of imagery and stories, using them as visual clues that invite recognition while generating new meaning. Historical figures, theatricality, fantasy and transformation sit alongside an unapologetic embrace of excess. Gold leaf, vivid colour and ornamental detail are recurring elements, balanced by an instinctive sense of when to stop and begin anew.

Informed by a career in theatre and opera design, Thompson draws freely from a wide range of sources. Appropriation, reinvention and imagination are central. Nothing is off limits.

Image: Mark Thompson