Steve Rosendale
Steve Rosendale's most recent work is a powerful and intriguing series of paintings whose sources are film noir, fashion photography and urban mystery.
The pictures reek of Je Reviens, malt whisky and illicit goings-on in the poolside cottages of exclusive but seedy Hollywood hotels. The white trench coat - belt tied, not buckled - is as iconic here as it was in movies of the 40s and 50s when women were lush, louche and under contract to Warner Bros.
The emptiness of his streetscapes and the sense of almost tangible desolation are reminiscent of Edward Hopper - but Rosendale has a lighter touch and the desolation is passing and probably won't curdle into despair.
Another source of inspiration is the classic fashion photography of Helmut Newton: as potentially dark and dangerous as those Warners' murder mysteries and even more stylish. The pictures celebrate fashion when elegance and Vogue went together and lace-trimmed petticoats were worn beneath the frock rather than instead of.
Most compelling aspect of these pictures is the sense of imminent events and danger: women are the unknowing subject of the gaze - of both the artist and, in some works, of the trench-coated observer. Something has or is about to happen and we are drawn inexorably to watch.
Steve Rosendale, Libby Edwards Gallery, 47 Queen Street, Woollahra, March 6-25; Tuesday-Friday10-5; Saturday 11-5; Sunday 1-5; Monday by appointment; ph: (02) 9362 9444.
