Sharman Feinberg - 'Arvo Tea'

Wednesday 12 - Saturday 29 January 2022

Click here for artwork by Sharman Feinberg

Obsession and compulsion became a part of my response to the 2020 Victorian lockdowns as I headed to the kitchen to bake cakes, the recipes for which I had trawled the internet. Baking cakes was not something usually part of my deed for the day, but a nerve was touched for some reason - and recipe after recipe was pored over as I searched for the cakes that appealled.

The process quickly became a daily ritual. Having dispatched the latest batter or mix to the oven, so rummaging in cupboards to rediscover forgotten (or assumed lost) treasures became part of the afternoon tea ritual. Tablecloths, cushions, porcelain and crockery collected over the years reappeared on the afternoon table. The composition of the scene became important, the creation of a tableau vivant of which my husband Christopher and I were both to a part of.

Such compositions, lovingly arranged, deserved to be recorded - and, from the photographs this series of still life paintings evolved, with each work entitled Arvo Tea, inspired by Sunday Reed’s use of the phrase.

Opening paragraphs of the catalogue accompanying the exhibition.