MILK BAR

BY

TONY MALONE

22nd of February – 7th March 2020

The national collective memory is an enormous amorphous vault, containing all manner of thought, image and dream, ranging from the monstrously incongruous to the exquisitely glorious – and somewhere in this minestrone maelstrom of memory, a place where phrases trigger recollections – we need only hear the words “Milk Bar” and we find ourselves transported through time and space.

Whilst it is true that the Milk Bar still exists, it is also true that it has become more and more difficult to find these enterprises trading in a manner, which adequately satisfies our retrospective vision and attendant sensations.

Tony Malone has been captivated by Milk Bars, (probably since birth – and perhaps even earlier, if that were humanly possible), but certainly, in reality, since the mid 1970s, when he exhibited Milk Bar infused works at Melbourne University’s Ewing and George Paton Galleries during the springtime of 1976.

We’ve heard much of the Arab Spring – but this was Tony’s Australian Suburban Spring – an awakening of sorts, which was unashamedly POP; whilst also being unashamedly local and refreshing, in a Melbourne art world still suffering spasmodic uncontrolled bouts of cultural cringe.

Tony has returned from time to time, through passing decades to create other inter-related Milk Bar imagery - and it is our very great pleasure, here at Four Eight Four, to present a Tony Malone Survey exhibition, which deals exclusively with this particular part of his artistic output.

We hope that you will be able to join us, either at the opening of the exhibition between 2 and 6 p.m. on Saturday the 22nd of February or otherwise, at some stage during the run of the show, to enjoy Tony’s lovingly crafted and emotive imagery.