Simplisticism, Recent Developments in Visual Philosophy by Reg Mombassa
Chris O’Doherty – aka Australian artist Reg Mombassa – has just opened an exhibition of new work at Watters Gallery in east Sydney. Titled Simplisticism, Recent Developments in Visual Philosophy, the show includes several new paintings rendered in Mombassa’s iconic cartoonish style.
Mombassa’s work typically draws upon political, religious and pop culture themes, and works in Simplisticism are intended to unravel and dissolve a tyrannical global patriarchy. The artist typically titles his exhibitions as a new imagined art movement — and this concept values simplicity in a crowded, complicated world. Rendered in charcoal and coloured pencil, Mombassa’s patriarchal gods are plastered with phallic limbs and are engaged in a bloody dystopian battle.
“This will be the first step in the long and complicated process toward a new era of peace, decency and equality for humans, animals and the earth itself,” he wrote in an artist's statement for the exhibition. “This new global religion will have one commandment: be kind. Wake up humans!”
Mombassa has a long history with Watters Gallery — he has been exhibiting his drawing and painting work there since the very beginning of his career in 1975. His last exhibition at the gallery was in 2007.
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