Alex Zubryn 

In-Store 

10 - 19 August 2023

Alex Zubryn has for some time now, chronicled the ever changing, ever evolving details of Footscray – his drawings and paintings of council hard rubbish collections, precarious tree plantings, somehow surviving against all odds in hot weather-board streets or tan-barked parks and then, the intensely kaleidoscopic images of local community festivals – all this and more, Alex has revealed to us, as his inquisitive eye is cast lovingly over the complex suburb he calls home.

In these most recent paintings, Alex’s view has been turned to the shopping strips, complete with engagingly exotic displays of food, clothing, toys, memorabilia and advertising signage – in fact merchandise of all manner, sitting within tantalising reach - just beyond the reflections on the plate-glass windows.

These Footscray vendors provide an endlessly altering array of still life subject matter - material which, Alex then transforms from his initial drawings into beautifully handled painterly works.

We sense, in Alex’s choice of material - that the objects themselves may have called out to the chronicler and put their case - their need to be considered, remembered and recorded, lest they disappear forever under the joint pressures of gentrification and development.