The Brother’s Grimm. The Wright Brothers. The Kennedys’. The Cohen Brothers. The Gallaghers’. Bros. Whichever way you look at – literature, aeronautics, politics, film or music – the creative fusion of two brothers can result in some amazing output. The Perth based Cacioppe Brothers, of Jonah and Chris, do not disappoint the aforementioned formula. In fact their exhibition, My Mind is the Sky / My Body is the Sea, is one of the most anticipated events of this winter’s arts calendar.
The exhibition is a collaboration between the two siblings and fuses Jonah’s old school painterly techniques, which includes gold leafing and egg tempera painting, with Chris’ savvy graphic design, the kind you would have seen running throughout such shops as Team Nihilist and Ruck Rover. Together the two present a show that is fuelled with digital prints and large scale oil paintings, the former a synthesis of women with animals and the latter huge rolling landscapes of cloud banks, frothing oceans and majestic icebergs. The results are breathtaking.
‘In Zen they talk of a pregnant emptiness or an empty fullness – an inner state where one is empty, as in free of the ego, but full of potential and bliss because of this freedom. I guess that’s what I aim to reflect in the paintings through the landscape,’ explained the Jonah Cacioppe.
WA also has many landscapes that are like that – empty yet full – the vast sky, the deep dark nights, the Indian ocean and the deserts. I only just returned to Perth after living in London for eight years and I do find WA quite empty and quiet but also strangely beautiful and full.
The show aims to ‘affirm that people and nature are interdependent and interconnected’. More than anything it affirms that these two brothers can create a swathe of interesting pieces. ‘My brother Chris and I worked on the whole show together, from the paints and prints to the invites,’ Cacioppe explained. ‘Initially we both discussed the concept and decided on a theme for the show that we both wanted to pursue, then we sourced and picked all the imagery together, and near the end we both reviewed the work and decided what to adjust and what to leave out.
‘It can be challenging at times when we disagree but I think he has a great eye and has certain skills that I don’t, that mean we can create a much stronger and more rewarding show together. I have also just updated my website – www.cacioppe.com – so that it includes both my brother and sister (who’s a fashion designer and muse in NY) with some of the projects we have worked together on. I like the old school idea of creative studios.’
My Mind is the Sky / My Body is the Sea opens at Emerge Art Space on Beaufort Street in Mt Lawley on July 22, 2009. www.emerg-art.com.au
Scott-Patrick Mitchell
