Louise Paramor is the final artist in residence for 2004 in association with The Church Gallery Art Angels Incorporated and Edith Cowan University.

She stated about her work:

My latest work is a series of large collages. These are meticulously assembled using pre-hand-painted gloss paper which is cut into numerous shapes and then pasted to form images. This imagery comprises a variety of over-scaled interpretations of the Mills and Boon series’ covers, chosen specifically to highlight the awkwardly stereotypical scenarios of men and women in various settings and situations. This coupling of overt 'handmade-ness', using a cut-and-paste ’primary’ technique, with the obsessive iconic imagery results in a series that contradicts and subverts the stereotyped aesthetic representations employed by Mills and Boon. The works are at once equally earnest and comical, which can result in a rather ‘confounding’ experience for the audience.

Prior to this ‘couples’ series, the collage technique was developed while making the works for Mädchen Club in 2002 ­ an interpretation of the 'girlie' imagery that was the focus of my installations during the previous two years.

From afar, the FOREVERYOURS collages appear simply as large, glossy poster-style paintings. It is not until the viewer gets closer that the crude 'home-made’ texture from the hand-painted and hand-cut elements becomes apparent. Although the works loom large and colourful, they are a subtle play on popular culture; while appearing to conform to the expediency and sophistication of digital imagery, they actually embody its’ antithesis.

The collage work developed from my recent solo exhibitions, Heart-On (Perth, 2001 and Melbourne, 2003) and Outback Heat (Hanover, 2001), where decorative paper sculptures were juxtaposed against ‘girlie’ beach towels with embroidered titles from Mills and Boon romantic novels. These installations also juxtaposed ‘cheap’ materials with ‘vulgar’ elements to construct a referential framework to confront with formal clichés on eroticism in a highly exaggerated staging.

*prices valid 2004