Alice Lang draws unlikely elements together: puff paint, usually used for craft, with a psychedelic and protest movement aesthetic; marbled paper; slang and swear words; smiley faces on ceramic ‘dad bod’ torsos; and a beaded curtain made from novelty male genitalia straws. It looks compelling, colourful, low-tech and vibrant, and packs a feminist punch that emerges from the swirling patterns, floppy surfaces and intense colour.
With artworks that appear decorative, Lang delivers a message about gender stereotyping, body politics and the double standards that have existed for so long within patriarchal power structures. As a recent painting of Lang’s suspended from the ceiling at QUT Art Museum suggests in its text, cut out from marbled puff paint, “NEVER AGAIN”.
Lang left Brisbane for the United States in 2013 to complete a masters in fine art in Los Angeles, and has been based in California ever since. Flowah Powah is her most significant solo exhibition in Australia to date.
The show is mostly new work, with a few pieces from 2018 onwards providing context. Central to Lang’s art is the use of material as integral to meaning. As she says, “NEVER AGAIN refers to the rollback of women’s reproductive rights happening in the United States right now. Some paintings are made entirely out of puff paint and are floppy, a critique of the macho and heroic idea of painting. Puff paint is associated with decoration and clothing—but at this scale becomes a smothering force.”
Other works integrate humour with an exploration of swear words, including 40 Ways to Say Shit, 2018 Large grids are presented like concrete poems to explore the vernacular, with text emerging from marbled patterns.
Flowah Power’s witty texts destabilise our expectations with aesthetic appeal, speaking to often uncomfortable themes using humour.
Flower Powah
Alice Lang
QUT Art Museum
On now—1 October
This article was originally published in the July/August 2023 print edition of Art Guide Australia.
Suggested Reading
The ceramics of the Central Desert
Developed in 2022 by Artback NT as part of Apmere Mparntwe—the Australian Ceramics Triennale— touring exhibition Clay on Country, showing now at New England Regional Art Museum, showcases the diversity of ceramics in the Central Desert.
Giselle Au-Nhien Nguyen
About Face mirrors the alluring world of contemporary portrait painting
About Face is a smart piece of marketing. The new book on portrait painting from Australia and New Zealand has a mission to change buyers’ minds about the field. But as Jane O’Sullivan discovers, any sales pitch wears thin if it’s repeated often enough, and the close attention to how portrait painting is received by the market means that other important conversations fade to the background.
Jane O'Sullivan
Elizabeth Mbitjana Pitijana and inherited influence
In Anmatyerr artist Elizabeth Mbitjana Pitijana’s first solo exhibition in Melbourne—which focuses on the Central Desert food source Arnwekety (bush plum)—the influence and love of her Country and culture is palpable. Elizabeth Mbitjana Pitijana is now showing at Niagara Galleries.
Giselle Au-Nhien Nguyen
Ivan Cheng on innocence lost
Anador Walsh reviews Ivan Cheng’s performance exhibition NP at Monash University Museum of Art—a three-day project, made in collaboration with a group of Year 11 students, that explores the loss of childhood innocence and role of documentation in performance.
Anador Walsh
AI-Generated Art? Bring it on!
Artists need not fear the spectre of AI-generated art. Instead, Oslo Davis suggests, we need to start reaping the rewards.
Oslo Davis
Raining cats and dogs
Whether beloved pets or superstitious omens, animals have always existed in art. The Ian Potter Centre: NGV Australia’s latest exhibition is paying tribute to two of the most beloved animal figures: cats and dogs.