ANDREW NICHOLLS

‘Of Delicate Make and Silky Constitution’ showcases works created by Western Australian artist Andrew Nicholls over the past decade exploring the Chinoiserie movement in the decorative arts. They formed part of his acclaimed curatorial project, ‘A Gentle Misinterpretation: Australian Artists and Chinoiserie’, which showed at Fremantle Arts Centre in 2022.

‘Chinoiserie’, the Western appropriation of Asian aesthetics, briefly represented the height of fashion for European aristocratic society during the 18^th Century. Today the style sits awkwardly within Western art history thanks to its undeniable visual charm, but culturally-insensitive and kitsch appropriation of Asian culture: it reflects the worst excesses of colonial imperialism yet displays a level of fascination for the ‘other’ that can be seen as (albeit naively) cosmopolitan in spirit. Conceived as a novelty for the privileged classes, Chinoiserie is particularly associated with George IV whose seaside pleasure palace, Brighton’s Royal Pavilion, is the world’s most important and intact remaining architectural example of the style. Nicholls coordinated a residency there in 2015 for himself and 7 other Australian artists, where many of these exhibition works were first conceived.

Nicholls’ art practice frequently explores the power dynamics underpinning seemingly-innocuous historical aesthetic legacies. The works comprising ‘Of Delicate Make and Silky Constitution’ were created solo and in collaboration with Chinese artisans on multiple residencies in Jingdezhen, China to explore the various contradictory connotations of the Chinoiserie genre. The works make reference to cultural piracy, decadence and Orientalism, rendered in Nicholls’ trademark high camp aesthetic.