Cj Hendry is bringing her hyper-realistic art back down under with her STRAYA exhibition
New York seems further away than ever at the moment and we’re sure expats living in the Big Apple are missing home as much as we miss globetrotting. One such expat is beloved artist Cj Hendry, who is back in the country for the first time in seven years with a new show. The two-part exhibition based on ‘Australianisms’, aptly named STRAYA, is coming to Brisbane in just a few short days. Here’s what you can expect …
For the unacquainted, Cj Hendry is a New York-based artist hailing from our humble city of Brisbane. A self-confessed pop-culture fanatic, Cj uses her love of 21st-century material culture to create large scale, hyper-photorealistic drawings of everyday goods, inspired by objects ranging from the ordinary (RM Williams boots) to the aspirational (luxe abodes). Some of her past exhibitions, all with an emphasis on the interactive aspect, have included gigantic jumping castle-like mazes and an entire multi-room ‘home’ inside a warehouse with each room monochrome-coloured from floor to ceiling.
Her newest work, STRAYA, is set to be nothing short of spectacular. The first part of the exhibition commenced with a public art element, which saw Hendry and her team travel Australia setting up custom street signs with Australian slang (think ‘where the bloody hell are ya?’ and ‘g’day’). Part two of STRAYA is an interactive exhibition, opening from Friday May 21 to Sunday May 23 from 10:00 am to 6:00 pm at a secret central location in Brisbane. You can expect to lay your eyes on 28 small works and two large works from the STRAYA series and you’ll even have the chance to snag some limited-edition lenticular signs and merchandise for your at-home collection – including a custom game, towels, pins and ‘bugger bandaids’. Struth.
UPDATE Thursday May 20: Cj Hendry’s STRAYA exhibition will be popping up at John Reid Pavilion at Brisbane Showgrounds.
To find out more about what’s on in Brisbane, head to our Event Guide.
