Domestication Vacation

Michael Reid Southern Highlands is delighted to present Billy Vanilli’s striking solo exhibition, Domestication Vacation. Vanilli is a Melbourne/Naarm based artist with a distinctive flair for sensual and incandescent imagery. His paintings are highly evocative, a sensory celebration of the tangible and emotional relationships we have with people, rituals and objects.

In his Southern Highlands debut, Vanilli focuses on the realm of dreams and nostalgia, embracing the fragile yet potent nature of our memories and sense of perception. His sensual, beguiling paintings celebrate seemingly insignificant moments; everyday observations captured to reveal hidden layers of meaning and other curious details.

Vanilli’s distinctive style incorporates the use of bold textures, sumptuous colour and rich tones. Imagery emerges from the subconscious, luscious and complex, lacquered with delicious sentimentality and a sense of playfulness.

The heightened version of reality can become warped with elements of uncertainty and even repulsion. We are both drawn in and held back, seeking to make sense of the boundary between the objective and subjective.