Beverly Rhodes - 'The Beekeeper's Daughter'
Canaday Gallery, 1st–19th July 2009
‘A small child is entranced by the bees.
She captures one in her hands and is distressed by the sting’.
Emerging from her Flower Girl paintings Rhodes latest series of work has evolved, to become tangibly indicative of the sting of developing perception in childhood experience. These works reference childhood vulnerability and loss of innocence, and were inspired by Sylvia Plath’s bee poetry and Pieter Breugel’s image ‘The Beekeepers’ (1567). Rhodes use of a neutral colour palate and lack of spatial cues gives the viewer the opportunity to fully consider the solitary, perfectly still figure, and to augment the already dense narrative with their personal interpretation.
Beverly Rhodes completed her Masters in Fine Arts at Melbourne’s RMIT University in 2004, this is her fourth solo exhibition at COCA Gallery.