Guido Maestri - Arrangements

Jan Murphy Gallery presents, Arrangements, the new exhibition from Guido Maestri.

Several works in this exhibition emerged during a particularly emotionally difficult period in the artist's life. While working through these sculptures, Maestri returned to an earlier clay model of his own head, originally made more than twelve years ago.

The bust has remained a constant subject throughout Maestri's sculptural practice, though these works resist the idealised coherence historically associated with portraiture. Despite their conceptual complexity, the sculptures remain deeply human. Their distortions and reconfigurations never obscure the bodily presence of the works, but instead heighten it.

A graduate of The National Art School, Maestri has been a repeat finalist in the Archibald Prize (which he won in 2009) and Wynne Prize at the Art Gallery of New South Wales. In 2021, Maestri was honoured with a major solo exhibition titled 'Stories from Homedale' at the newly opened Mudgee Arts Precinct. His work is regularly curated into institutional exhibitions and is held in several public collections, including the National Portrait Gallery, Art Gallery of South Australia, Art Gallery of New South Wales and Parliament House collections.