“21 Blackwood Park Road”
Geoff Newman
24 Mar → 8 Apr 2006

21 Blackwood Park Road is an installation that explores the creation of contemporary personal empires in the form of houses and their associated structures.

Many of the houses in newly created estates, such as Koolamara Waters and Edgewater, come ‘fully optioned’ with luxury features such as fountains, columns and gates. Within these estates, each with its own brand new ‘natural’ waterway, each house appears to compete with its neighbour for prestige.

21 Blackwood Park Road, which brings to Gallery 3 a swimming pool rendered unusable by its dimensions, suggests that in these estates it is not only brick that is veneer: a sense of community is presented, but not sustained. Despite striving for grandeur, these empires end at their front and back fences, stretching only far enough to claim the car in the driveway and the swimming pool in the backyard.

Geoff Newman is a New Zealand artist who has been working in Melbourne since completing an honours degree in fine arts in 2004. This is his first solo show.