Popped Art

Wait. What's 'Popped Art'?

Jackie's Patient Zero visual influence is 1960s pop culture. The subjects in this section have been remixed or 'popped'–both in look and meaning–from existing photographs taken for miscellaneous projects, then had their pop culture dial turned to 'eleven' via new over-the-top scenarios (often courtesy of a medley of stock and/or AI images) and the visual connective tissue of the Ben Day dot aesthetic so often associated with Pop Art.

 

REPRESENTATION

These artworks are represented by OneSpace Gallery.

The Writers on the Wall (2025)

'Bad Influence' (Ceridwen Dovey)
'Bad Influence' (Ceridwen Dovey)
'Reviews Are In' (Debra Oswald)
'Reviews Are In' (Debra Oswald)
'Social Media' (Michelle Law)
'Social Media' (Michelle Law)

This series follows on stylistically from Jackie's Full Circle exhibition (just keep scrolling for that one), the central difference being that The Writers on the Wall series exclusively features (spoiler alert!) writers–though they're doing decidedly unwriterly things, since these images have been plucked (with the artists' permission) from an array of previous collaborations with  then 'remixed' into something entirely different.

Part of the difference is situational (say, a burning mansion and getaway cars where the original project concerned a musical theatre hall); part of it is the great pop culture uniter (at least in my world), the Pop Art aesthetic.

There's an even bigger unifier, of course: these writers don't only tell stories with their words. Just LOOK at their performances!

'Elevated' (Pascalle Burton)
'Elevated' (Pascalle Burton)
'Discharged' (Carody Culver)
'Discharged' (Carody Culver)
'Double Trouble' (Kris & Krissy Kneen)
'Double Trouble' (Kris & Krissy Kneen)
'Stood Down Clown' (Richard Glover)
'Stood Down Clown' (Richard Glover)

FUN FACTS

 

Each of these writers appeared at Brisbane Writers Festival (BWF) at one time or another. This series gave them a somewhat unusual encore in which their characters amused and confused in 2D form as part of an exhibition during BWF2025.

The poses in Elevated, Had a Blast and Hold the Line were originally struck for Burger Force comics.

 

The poses in Discharged, Social Media and The Final Frontier were originally struck for The Fanciful Fiction Auxiliary.

 

The poses in Bad Influencer, Reviews are In and Stood Down Clown were originally taken for the photographic series Headshot (still in progress, so you'll have to wait for that one).

 

The poses in Double Trouble were originally for Fanciful Fiction Auxiliary (right, foreground) AND for Burger Force (left, background). A double feat indeed.

'The Final Frontier' (Winnie Dunn)
'The Final Frontier' (Winnie Dunn)
'Had a Blast!' (Anita Heiss & Susan Johnson)
'Had a Blast!' (Anita Heiss & Susan Johnson)
'Hold the Line' (Kristina Olsson)
'Hold the Line' (Kristina Olsson)

The exhibition catalogue was written by the sublime Carody Culver, who appears in both Fanciful Fiction Auxiliary AND Burger Force (so do a lot of these people, actually), and who also happens to be in a decade-long first person plural with Jackie.

 

Exhibition photos by Tamika Grant-Iramu

Room Brochure Excerpt: The Writers on the Wall
Room Brochure Excerpt: The Writers on the Wall

Popped Art: Full Circle

ABOUT

The Full Circle series was conceived for–and debuted at–Jackie's 2024 Fever Dream exhibition at OneSpace Gallery. It entailed remixing images from a plethora of art projects past and present and dropping them into entirely new scenarios. The images are linked via the Ben Day dot printing aesthetic (a look commonly associated with Golden and Silver Age comics and the work of iconic 1060s Pop artists, which is visually apt connective tissue, given the pop culture bent of Jackie's projects). While it's fitting that that these remixed pop culture projects should come 'full circle' (pun intended), the art still circles around the compelling performances of Jackie's subjects.

REPRESENTATION

These artworks are represented by OneSpace Gallery.

FUN FACTS

 

Artworks from this series featuring writers who'd appeared at Brisbane Writers Festival (Mystery Shopper, Atomic Disco, Smokin', Out of Office) got to take a bow.

 

The poses in Underwater Operative, How Often Do You Think About the Roman Empire, Ghosted, Old Gods and New, Aflockalypse and Axe to Grind were originally struck for Burger Force comics.

 

The poses in Atomic Disco, Smokin', Mystery Shopper, Out of This World and Out of Office were originally struck for The Fanciful Fiction Auxiliary.

 

The poses in Picture Perfect and Photo Finish were originally taken by Jackie for Polytoxic.

 

Check out the source material to see how many worlds away (or, just sometimes ... not) these remixed scenarios are from the original appearances.

'Atomic Disco' (Featuring Jackie Ryan)
'Atomic Disco' (Featuring Jackie Ryan)
'Smokin'' (Featuring Carody Culver)
'Smokin'' (Featuring Carody Culver)

Wait ... MORE fun Facts?

The Full Circle photographic series was just one part (albeit an extremely fun one) of Jackie's 2024 Fever Dream solo art exhibition at Onespace Gallery.

The show was also something of a retrospective ... or greatest hits?

One section hosted classic black & white images from Burger Force comics, another some fancy colour images of the same.

Yet another section boasted some of the wilder Fanciful Fiction Auxiliary faux 'cover photos' and 'author headshots' through the years (many a gallery visitor was spotted taking a phone photo of In Session).

Everything was printed on shiny aluminium via a sublimated dye process so scientifically thrilling it would have impressed the Burger Twins. That's so metal!

Also, the exhibition catalogue was written by the magnificent Myles McGuire, who appears in both Fanciful Fiction Auxiliary AND Burger Force (so do a lot of people, actually), and who has pulled off a rare arts hat trick by also working with Jackie at Brisbane Writers Festival.

Fever Dream Exhibition

18 October–16 November 2024

Exhibition Photos by Louis Lim.

Room Brochure exhibition text: Myles McGuire