From the 4^th of April, The Muse Gallery of Milawa will exhibit the most recent body of work by renowned pastel artist Peter Caddy. The Honourable Lynne Kosky, Minister for Public Transport and The Arts and also an avid fan of Mr. Caddy’s work, will officially open the exhibition at 2 p.m. on that Saturday.

The exhibition, titled ‘Beechworth Gothic’, explores the modern day machinations of this historic tourism destination. For those familiar with the landscape, Caddy has taken sacrosanct landmarks as subject and given them a modern, humanistic reality. The three tiered Victorian fountain, Tom O’Tooles Bakery, Mayday Hills Sanatorium, the local swimming hole. Confronting, jarring, humorous and on occasion disturbing, this new reality of a fully operating monument to the romance and intrigue of yesteryear invites personal reflection and questions existing interpretations.

Multi award winning, nationally and internationally lauded, in 2008 Caddy was the recipient of 1^st prize for his depiction of the ‘Ned Kelly’ era in an exhibition in Beechworth. The drag queen image of Steve Hart, an integral member of the Kelly Gang who acted as ‘decoy’ to put the police off, offered the audience a contradiction of the impenetrable yet vulnerable insight of this Australian folklore.   It was from this exploration that Caddy developed an interest in the human element in what he terms “the pretty facade of tourist attracting antiquity.”

Caddy has worked ‘plein air’ over many years in creating a picture of his home town. From bushfires to bored local youth, the long hours of a baker to the innocence of teen girls, Caddy, using thick encrusted pastel intensely applied, has perpetrated the Beechworth of today amidst the relics. A town which ironically continues to tick to a human reality that is not entirely dissimilar to what it was in the days of the bushrangers.

‘Beechworth Gothic’ will be on display at The Muse Gallery of Milawa at the Milawa Cheese Factory complex from Saturday April 4^th 2 p.m. until Monday 27^th April 2009. The opening is generously sponsored by Wood Park Wines and The Milawa Cheese Company.  As always, The Muse Gallery director George Piercy and his partner Alice have issued an open invitation to all to attend this event.