Summer Abandon
Mary & Fred Schepisi
15 Apr
2023
2023
11 May
2023
In reverie to their vineyard home, Summer Abandon presents new paintings and textile works by well know international artist and philanthropist Mary Schepisi together with photographs of the property by film director Fred Schepisi.
Two Bays Vineyard is not only the inspiration for Mary Schepisi’s new exhibition but her studio and her workspace. By exploring the rich undulating topography of her environment through her needlework and painting Schepisi has discovered an entirely different pictorial dimension.
Fragmented stitched lines delineate the lakes and vineyards of her landscape, a world always in seasonal splendour and tranquility.
Schepisi has created a vocabulary that is both delicate, textual and unique. Her singular visualisation creates a dialogue between her needlework and her paintings. New layers of meaning emerge as the viewer looks from one to the other.
Installation View
Artworks
Artworks
Artist Profile/s
Mary Schepisi
Mary Schepisi is fascinated with nature in all its forms while influenced by concerns for the environment, the female body and a dream of human rights for all.
Mary has showcased exhibitions in Melbourne, New York City, Los Angeles and London. Her work is held in numerous collections.
Recently creating a marvellous range of homewares, using her painting and needleworks to enrich exclusive textiles. See more at maryschepisidesigns.com
Fred Schepisi
Fred Schepisi AO (born 26 December 1939) is an Australian film director and screenwriter. His credits include: Last Orders, Roxanne, Plenty, and Six Degrees of Separation.
Schepisi was born Frederic Alan Schepisi in Melbourne, Victoria, the son of fruit dealer Frederic Thomas Schepisi and Loretto Ellen (née Hare). He began his career in advertising and directed both commercials and documentaries before helming his first feature film, The Devil's Playground, in 1976.
Schepisi won the Australian Film Institute Award for Best Direction and the Australian Film Institute Award for Best Screenplay for both The Devil's Playground and Evil Angels (released in the US as A Cry in the Dark).
In 1991, his film The Russia House was nominated for the Golden Bear at the 41st Berlin International Film Festival.
In 2005 Schepisi directed and co-produced the HBO miniseries Empire Falls, for which he was nominated for the Emmy Award for Outstanding Directing for a Miniseries, Movie or Dramatic Special and the Directors Guild of America Award for Best Director of a TV Film.
In April 2008 it was announced Film Finance Corporation Australia was providing funding for Schepisi's film The Last Man, about the final days of the Vietnam War. It is scheduled to begin filming in Queensland, with Guy Pearce and David Wenham in leading roles, towards the end of the year.
Schepisi has also directed a number of music videos, including for the 2008 song "Breathe" by Kaz James featuring Stu Stone.
Asked about the "gypsy-like existence" of a filmmaker, Schepisi has said:
"It’s the hardest thing. I think we’re today’s circus people. It’s very hard on your family. [His wife] Mary travels with me and when everyone was younger and it was possible, I liked them to travel with me and be with me. Fortunately, Mary’s an artist; she paints, and often finds inspiration from our locations."