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The most recent Venice Biennale entitled ‘Dreams and Conflicts: The Dictatorship of the Viewer’ proved to be controversial and was, at worst, a resounding dud, if the response of international critics is anything to go by. Indeed at times the Biennale resembled an exercise in excess, the product of the vagaries of so much curatorial input and perhaps ironically, the dictatorship of curator Francesco Bonami himself. In the midst of so much work competing for something more than mere recognition of its presence, certain aspects stood out. The Italian pavilion was often successful because it blended some of the greatest hits and the international ‘art stars’ with less well known practitioners, and because Richard Prince’s beautiful room of painterly photographs of iconic cowboys was truly seductive.
For me, the highlight of the Biennale was the exhibition at the Museo Correr entitled ‘Painting: From Rauschenberg to Murakami’. Also curated by Bonami, this exhibition offered something of a who’s who of painting from Robert Rauschenberg, Andy Warhol and Agnes Martin through to Lucio Fontana and Cy Twombly, and more contemporaneously John Currin and Damien Hirst. Of course there were glaring omissions (no Australian artists) and some odd inclusions, but in an otherwise lack-lustre Biennale this exhibition shone, if only because it is a reminder of the undeniable charm and relevance of painting.
Painting practice in Australia has always been strong, and Daniel Mafé is one artist who has pursued the medium with something akin to reverence and a deep respect. Mafé’s new work is the continuation of an ongoing project, an unfolding articulation about the act of painting. His work offers respite from so much of the white noise of contemporary art