Beachside reverie

While seemingly evocative of time and place, the image invoked by artist Christopher McVinish’s ‘Fish n chips’ could be anywhere, at any time. East coast, west coast, ’50s or noughties – but, above all, it’s a reminder of a quintessential Australian experience. Succumb to the tang of seaweed in the air, gritty sand against rubber thongs, seagulls screeching, and crashing, lapping waves encroaching. Remember the slow burn of hot, fat, salty chips on fingers and lips as the beachside fish ‘n’ chip kiosk converted familiar sights and sounds into something both tangible and delicious. Sadly, the recent impetus to make a sea-change has meant many such fish shops have been lost, superseded by faceless, soulless apartment blocks built to house nostalgic Australians and their dreams of a beachside idyll. In describing his work, McVinish explains that, although the actual setting is fictitious, ‘it embodies a period of time when life was less hectic and issues such as climate change were yet to make headlines around the world.’ ‘The couple on the bench look seaward, safe in the belief that their world will continue on unchanged,’ he adds. ‘I have drawn on the past as well as the present in my quest to find meaning in the commonplace,’ says McVinish. ‘I intend... to provoke a narrative in the imagination of the viewer and in doing so enable the viewer to exist temporarily in someone else’s world – as if suddenly transported to a place where other lives exist and time has been suspended.’ The Brisbane-born artist’s work is represented in Australian public and university collections and held in numerous private collections both in Australia and internationally. He has held more than 30 Australian solo exhibitions and participated in numerous other exhibitions nationwide, as well as in Singapore, Florida and California.