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MATT DABROWSKI AND THE MANY HANDS OF GLAMOUR

Wes Hill
Eyeline 74
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Tropical surrealism with a social conscience—this would be one way to describe Matt Dabrowski’s art practice. Based in Brisbane for over two decades, he has recently polished-up and expanded the scale of his work. To my mind, his work represents some of the more interesting art in Queensland at present, an aesthetic that is as sharp as the Queensland light, with a critical approach that is simultaneously modest, earnest, and elusive.

In his formative years, Dabrowski was immersed in the lively Brisbane subculture of the 1980s, an era in which Queensland, thanks to the activities of the Sir Joh Bjelke-Petersen Government, was widely considered to be a police state. On this period, he reflected; ‘Even though I was at the tail end of it, I was always getting patted down, pants down, socks searched, hassled by the cops. It was the culture of the time. I really didn’t know any better since I hadn’t traveled anywhere else’.1 Exploring Brisbane hangouts, like the Goth friendly Vortex d’Junk, and embracing the ‘gender dysphoric clubby fogland fusion of ’80s aerobic fashion and trannies lip-syncing Shirley Bassey’ that Fortitude Valley provided, Dabrowski’s art practice emerged as much from these social engagements as anything else. He became associated with Brisbane fanzines such as Maggot Death, the artist run space Gallerie Brutal (which later became Isnt Gallery) and, in the 1990s, pursued a range of collaborative projects and performance art pieces that have made him a significant point of interest in the recent rejuvenation of the Brisbane ARI (Artist Run Initiative) scene.

Although artist run spaces promote important alternative expressions, they can also spawn a myopic coolness that is as rigid as the... The rest of this article is available to subscribers of Eyeline

pillow mask. Pillow and eyeholes. Exhibited at Metro Arts/M.S.S.R., 2009. Courtesy the artist.

pillow mask. Pillow and eyeholes. Exhibited at Metro Arts/M.S.S.R., 2009. Courtesy the artist.

Lux. A computer routered sculpture made with coal sourced from the last run of the S.S. Forceful, the last coal-burning tug on the Brisbane River. Exhibited at Queensland Centre for Photography, 2006, Logan Art Gallery, 2009. Courtesy the artist.

Lux. A computer routered sculpture made with coal sourced from the last run of the S.S. Forceful, the last coal-burning tug on the Brisbane River. Exhibited at Queensland Centre for Photography, 2006,
Logan Art Gallery, 2009. Courtesy the artist.