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Joi Murugavell

Joi’s art has all the energy and vibrancy of a completed children’s coloring book. Her drawings come to life in mostly primary and secondary Crayola colors and are populated by a curious cast of playful characters. Joi’s drawings also share the mode of expression found in a child’s drawing. Under the happy, colorful exterior are real issues being dealt with in raw fashion. On second glance, the cast of characters maybe involved in or stating in scrawling text an adult sentiment or situation. Her drawings encapsulate simultaneously the light as well as the darkness of the human condition.

Country
Australia
Discipline
Painting

Available works

All Available Work

"Existence was not only absurd, it was plain hard work. Think of how many times you put on your underwear in a lifetime. It was appalling, it was disgusting, it was stupid."

- Charles Bukowski

Biography

Humour and play are integral in the life and art of Joi Murugavell-- a lesson she learned from her father as an elixir to life’s absurdities. Behind the laughs lies a desperate desire to understand her world - away from the influences of family, friends and culture. Like a string in a maze, her art is the process by which she navigates the layers she’s acquired along the way.

Joi’s art is spontaneous, who’s characters frequently act out life experiences, capturing the beauty and pain of the human experience and the soul in flux. Her art is often abstract, bright, biting, humorous— and always on the edge of either feeling good or being another way to bleed.

Joi has participated in The Other Art Fair Sydney 2019, 2018, 2017 and The Amsterdam International Art Fair 2019. In 2018, Joi was invited by abc Gallery Seoul to have her first solo exhibition ‘Bananas Down Under’ in South Korea, a debut of her large format paintings.

In 2017, she was part of a performance piece called ‘Ask Me Anything’ with the Museum Of Contemporary Art Australia’s Young Ambassadors Club. Joi has exhibited nationally and internationally in the United States, London, Mexico, New Zealand and Korea.

Joi lives and works in Sydney, next to a quiet dog park.