Newtown’s Wilson Street Gallery shows the work of established gallery artists, as well as welcoming the work of new and innovative artists. This month the gallery features the paintings of Roni Feldman. Feldman is a 28 year old artist from California who has exhibited throughout the US, Australia and Belgium and has won multiple awards including the prestigious international MFA Now.

The works in Collective Dissolve are a series of airbrushed blurred images that attempt to make the secular sacred. Feldman captures everyday happenings and through distorting those images forces the viewer to deeply examine the work. At times his work is a kaleidoscope of colourful imagery that looks like blurred photographic negatives at other times the works are monochromatic and dense. Most of the works are of events where people gather; protests, parades, book release parties and family gatherings.

Not all the images are of crowds. One of the more intimate works Tiger Hug, is a portrait of a tiger embracing a man in shades of yellow, red and green. Though the painting Gorilla Wake features a motley crew carrying a gorilla on bamboo rods, the work draws you into the central figure of the gorilla that we can assume is being poached. Many of Feldman’s works require close examination.

The piece Feast or Famine is black acrylic airbrushed on a black background yet glimpses of people gathering around a table toasting and portraits of prisoners in striped garb are among the many layered images that can be made out in this painting. Field Work is also a black on black piece which appears to have field workers from different periods of time, some chained together in traditional black and white prison garb. It seems that many of Feldman’s more serious subjects are done with this black on black style.

While the works of Feldman are vibrant and interesting, there is something that still needs to be developed about his work. I found myself looking for more and feeling like the artist didn’t delve deep enough. Distorted images with obvious titles didn’t capture my attention as much as I would have hoped. This is not to say that Feldman is not talented. This exhibition, in addition to other artists featured at Wilson Street Gallery, is still well worth seeing. I was just looking for a certain undefinable quality to the work that I assume would lie with a more mature artist. Feldman’s work will be showing at the Wilson Street Gallery until 12 July 09.