The Enigma Code: Fiona Abicare, Jeremy Eaton, Lou Hubbard, John Meade, Tully Moore, Nick Ryrie, Curated by Kate Daw

 The Enigma Code featured work by six Melbourne-based artists: Fiona Abicare, Jeremy Eaton, Lou Hubbard, John Meade, Tully Moore and Nick Ryrie. Curated by Kate Daw (Head, VCA School of Art, University of Melbourne) and using the art work of Fiona Abicare and John Meade as a starting point, this exhibition was inspired by Meade and Abicare’s obsessive material and conceptual attention to detail and the resultant enigmatic impact their work has on the viewer. Echoes of cultural influence are present and yet presented in an abstracted form in both of these highly considered and influential practices. 

Does intensity equate with enigma?

The exhibition brought together the work of a group of artists who all work with various forms and share an intensity in their approach to making. Each artist sign-posts the influence of the broader cultural world in their art work, with diverse origins that may include references to history, popular culture and the work of other artists. While enigma may be defined as a person or thing that is difficult to understand, this exhibition embraces the idea of difficulty and seeks to show how rewarding looking and thinking can be. A series of codes not to be merely cracked, but rather questions that may persist long after looking, the art in The Enigma Code is ambitious in its wide and scoping veracity and devoted to its inscrutable intensity and private conundrums.

John Meade is represented by Sutton Gallery, Melbourne