Rob McHaffie: We are family

This major exhibition surveys the recent work of central Victorian artist Rob McHaffie. From super cool hipsters to art world afficionados, street artists, mums and dads, commuters, dog walkers and lackadaisical youth, McHaffie’s keen observations of his everyday surroundings reveal the idiosyncrasies and absurdities of contemporary Australian urban life with colour, whimsy and humour in equal measure. This ambitious exhibition brings together recent and new painting, collage, works on paper, and ceramic sculpture in a vibrant showcase of McHaffie’s buoyant and broad-ranging creative vision. In a drawing-led practice, McHaffie applies collage techniques to portraiture and narrative painting to reassemble and re-picture people, settings and moments, both real and imagined. Through pop culture references to musings on domesticity and human relationships, McHaffie’s work reveals an enjoyment of and amusement at life and the performativity of our public and private selves. Born in Melbourne in 1978, McHaffie completed a Bachelor of Fine Arts (Drawing) and later a Masters of Fine Art at the Victorian College of the Arts. He has exhibited widely in Australia and New Zealand for over 20 years.