Drew Pettifer
Some want quietly
3 February - 5 March 2016
Some want quietly is a new body of work by Melbourne artist Drew Pettifer. This exhibition is the outcome of a residency he completed for two months in Tokyo in mid-2014. Through photographs and video Pettifer examines different codes of masculinity and gender that exist in contemporary Japanese society in relation to young Japanese men. These straight and queer subjects are represented in the intimate, snapshot style Pettifer has become known for, but also articulate for themselves their attitudes and opinions on these complex issues through recorded interviews.
Read catalogue essay by Futoshi Miyagi, 'Tough to be a man' >>
Drew Pettifer is an artist and academic who currently lectures in Art History and Theory at RMIT University. His art practice explores themes of intimacy, gender, sexuality and the politics of desire using photography, video, installation and performance.
Pettifer has held solo exhibitions in Melbourne at Counihan Gallery, Bus Projects, VCA Margaret Lawrence Gallery, Nellie Castan Gallery, Craft Victoria, CCP, RMIT School of Art Gallery, No No Gallery and Blindside, as well as at Utrecht, Tokyo; Metro Arts, Brisbane; Firstdraft, Sydney and Inflight, Tasmania.
He has participated in group exhibitions at the National Gallery of Victoria, Kunstraum Tapir in Berlin, Edmund Pearce Gallery, Shepparton Art Museum, Geelong Gallery, West Space, Monash Gallery of Art, Sa Sa Bassac in Phnom Penh, The Substation in Melbourne and Gold Coast City Gallery.
Pettifer is currently a member of the Shepparton Art Museum Foundation Board of Directors. He is also a qualified solicitor and works from time to time as an independent curator and writer. His work is held in various collections, including the National Gallery of Victoria, Monash Gallery of Art, Horsham Regional Art Gallery and Shepparton Art Museum, as well as private collections nationally and internationally.
Pettifer is currently completing a PhD (Monash) and has an MA (RMIT), Grad Cert Visual Arts (VCA), BA Hons (UniMelb) and LLB (UniMelb).
Drew Pettifer, Untitled (Some want quietly), 2016, HD Video, 20:16