Oldenberg's comment, made in 1967 about "seeing gold frames round Pollocks now is funny, and also hurts" is a necessary reference in the Pocket Guide to Art Watching in Brisbane.
Sebastian Di Mauro is contradicting popular cultural perceptions when presenting large demounted canvasses, which had been previously stretched tightly planar to be painted. In doing so he is joining a number of contemporary Australian painters. This dematerialization of the painted object asserts that all that is neccessary to present to the viewer is a certain minimum of painterly evidence. This attitude further dictates that the products of painting be not simplistically considered as precious icons to be acquired and venerated.
The artist exploits further the de-mounting by admitting into the range of sensations the slight swell and billow of the slackened canvas. The shallow, slow undulation of surfaces carry extra meanings, indicating that the artist's intentions are more about the significance of the act of painting than about the painting out of narrative or hypothesis. Messages are transmitted that have to do with the synthesis of action/time rather than the finity of object.
In order to identify the source of painting it is often necessary, yet seldom happens, that the viewer admit to things outside his/her experience. The pedestal of solipsism is no place on which to strike a pose of criticism or approval. In this artist's work the question of subject matter/subject can be a perplexing one. The question of his intentions likewise. Until the marks that make up the colour masses are scrutinized the viewer may not guess at the meaning in this artist's work.
To see him at work in the studio is to see a process