Cornish & Domergue

Cornish and Domergue are two artists whose distinct styles and philosophies create a dynamic and synergistic collaboration. Cornish, a self-described introvert, and Domergue, an extrovert, bring together their divergent practices to produce powerful, compelling art that transcends differences.

Cornish is renowned as Australia's premier stencil artist and a three-time Archibald finalist. Having pushed the boundaries of stencil art with intricate and detailed compositions, Cornish has garnered critical acclaim for his candid, overtly political artworks. His recent work strikes a distinctly contemplative and existential tone, as with his astronauts series.

 

Domergue uses an innovative "peeling" process: he applies pigmented resin to urban surfaces, then peels it back to create artworks that incorporate tangible pieces of the environment. His work challenges and redefines landscape painting by focusing on microcosms of beauty found in everyday urban surroundings.

Both artists are informed by their respective subcultural roots: street art for Cornish and Sydney's 90s rave scene for Domergue. The DIY ethos shared by these subcultures’ manifests in the artists’ practices, as they innovatively use everyday materials, and engage with the urban environment, to create something entirely new: striking works which transform space/s.

Together, Cornish and Domergue's work explores themes of space and identity, both in a physical and existential sense. Their collaborations speak to tensions between feeling marginalized and seeking acceptance, and yet feeling alienated and remaining an ‘outsider’, as when subcultures are integrated into mainstream culture. Their art balances ambiguity, absurdity and ambivalence, to simultaneously evoke both despair and hope, humour and contemplation, and make profound statements through the silent vacuum of space and the tangible textures of the urban landscape.