Dogmatic

Was fortunate enough to be on the Guest List at Outré Gallery’s Niagara Exhibition last night. As per the norm, the place was packed and brimming with fun and excitement.

I hung around the aforementioned Niagara like a creepy stalker trying to get a photo op. (Sorry Niagara!) And if it wasn’t for Outré’s Martin Macintosh who I looked at in despair and said "I’m not gonna get my shot, I give up!" who interjected and asked Niagara for me. (So a big thank you to Martin!)

A bit about Niagara: Niagara materialized on the scene in the late 70’s as front person for the noise/punk band Destroy All Monsters. Fellow band mates read like a who’s who, including Mike Kelley, Jim Shaw (big time artists), Ron Asheton (Iggy and the Stooges guitarist), and Mike Davis (MC5 bass player).

Her early cover art, done in pen & ink and gouache, appear to be self portraits. Her fierce female depictions of femme fatales plumb the depths of trash culture and post-feminism. “It’s the men who cry in my paintings”, Niagara muses. She later showed ‘Warholistic’ use of colour on her large canvases and actually met Andy Warhol in the late 70’s.

Colonel Galaxy, Niagara’s promoter/body guard comments, “Niagara paints off register to make it look like a bad silk screen but she does it with such precision, people still think they’re done by machine. Warhol would love it.”

Niagara works with a high profile gallery in Detroit and her limited edition prints are sold all over the world including Outré Gallery, Melbourne. She also sings with Dark Carnival with lead guitarist, Ron Asheton.

Outré Gallery: 249 Elizabeth St, Melbourne. Exhibition runs until 11 March. More info at Outré.