Bendigo artist Chris Duffy unveils street-style pop art exhibition in historic Dudley House

Bendigo artist Chris Duffy has filled historic Dudley House with modern pop art for his new exhibition When Words Fail.

Duffy, whose work is recognisable on many walls in Bendigo, has used pieces he created during the pandemic in the show.

“It’s made up of work from the last year. There’s a lot of new stuff,” he said. “One wall is predominantly the butterflies from The Conservatory show I had last year.”

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Duffy said it was a challenge taking his street-style of work into a traditional gallery space.

“I wanted to get that something different (in Dudley House) rather than just putting paintings up in a row, one by one,” he said. “That was the real challenge of it for me.

“The thing I wanted to do was, (use) this lovely, old building and bring that sort of street art funk to it. And (do it on) a budget without having to paint directly on the walls or bang holes in the walls.”

Duffy graduated from La Trobe University Bendigo in 1999 and has been creating his style of work ever since.

He split his time between England, where he is from, and Bendigo before resettling here in 2016.

“I’ve always been a fan of pop culture – pop art more than culture,” he said. “I don’t really consider myself a pop artist. I use that the popular imagery and style as a really quick way of connecting with someone.

“It’s instantly recognizable. It’s instantly accessible. So and then I try and create the narrative (but) I want the viewer to actually generate their own narrative. I know what they mean to me but I really am more interested in the viewer’s narrative.”

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