In his first solo gallery exhibition in more than four years, Oslo Davis serves up a veritable mixed bean salad of art, jokes and furniture. Titled AS IF, Oslo’s exhibition of varying styles is arranged sensibly across the four walls of Jacky Winter Gallery, as the inaugural show for their new Collingwood
location.

One wall showcases what Oslo Davis calls ‘Improvements On Australian Art’ - a collection of large oil paintings that take iconic works by Sidney Nolan, Brett Whiteley, Russell Drysdale and Howard Arkley and subject them to pithy internet-meme-type jokes.

Elsewhere Oslo gives us a collection of large black and white drawings and cartoons, that remind us of the work of Raymond Pettibon, but with more (attempted) humour.

The remaining section of AS IF features pieces selected from hundreds of cartoons Oslo has done for newspapers and magazines over the last ten years. Here, Oslo gives us originals, oil painting reproductions and the ephemera that goes into making his funny cartoons. It’s a dog’s breakfast/ collage affair that provides some insight into Oslo’s joke-making and creative technique.

Other bits a bobs (such as a one-off Japanese ‘zaishu’ stool featuring dramatically illustrated facial expressions of Mercedes Corby, and a handkerchief design for men) round out AS IF - an eclectic exhibition to say the least.

Oslo Davis is an illustrator and cartoonist who has drawn for a number of publications worldwide, including the New York Times, the Age, Meanjin and the Guardian. Oslo has also been commissioned to draw for the National Gallery of Victoria, the Golden Plains music festivals, the State Library of Victoria and the Melbourne Writers Festival, among many others. In 2011 Oslo was a Walkley Award finalist in the cartoon category. His animation Melbhattan has been selected for various festivals worldwide.