A passion to recycle has lead Dubbo artist Jon Mowen to create a debut multimedia exhibition, that he hopes will provoke strong reactions from the community.
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The works are made of recycled materials which gave the artist the idea of Redemption as a theme.
Created over two years, the exhibition, titled ‘The Redemption of Jonathan Mowen’, will feature at least 10 works from Jon and an assortment from other guests.
Jon has been recycling since he was a child, with the commitment to reuse being passed down from his mother.
The causal high-school teacher used discarded materials such as paper, cardboard and folders.
”I use other recyclable materials, such as plastic containers, tin cans, and also found materials. There's a sculpture using old I.D. cards of mine and I like to use catalogues for collages,” Jon said.
Jon likes to provoke strong reactions from his artistic work and is hoping to get the extremes of awe and disgust from the exhibition.
“If I can get that whole spectrum, my job is done,” he said.
“I'm hoping that for some of my teaching colleagues they are able to laugh at some of the different perspectives I bring to some teaching material that I know they find unbearably dull.
“It's cathartic for me to bring some of the ridiculous stuff we do at work into a different context, I hope they can share that feeling with me through the art.”
The exhibition took two years because last year Jon was working full time and also because he was focusing on his songwriting as a creative pursuit.
“I didn't really even conceive of putting together an exhibition until recently when I realised I would be leaving Dubbo in a couple of months,” he said.
“I had always wanted to put on a show but never got around to it, so moving put the fire under me.”
Local musician Holiday Ghost will make an appearance to sing songs of redemption.
‘The Redemption of Jonathan Mowen’ is proudly presented by OOF Industries and the Handsome Lampshade Letter Company.
The free exhibition will be held at the Milestone Hotel on Friday, November 16 from 7pm.