Off Whyte

If you’ve ever visited Don Whyte Framing you would be assured of a few key things: good advice and excellent service, quality work and expertise in a range of media from standard stretched paintings and mounted prints to mixed media and bark paintings. Always friendly, always helpful, Don and his team have provided a welcoming service to many people looking to have artwork preserved and presented.

Don Whyte Framing has become a bit of an institution in Darwin (in more ways than one!). And the man himself has become one of Darwin’s memorable characters – with the casual demeanor of a true Darwin-ite, but the touch of a Kiwi accent still holds remnants of a past life. If you’re a regular visitor to Don’s, you’re bound to receive some of his notable generosity, and you will also be liable for a jibe – he will take the piss out of you at any given opportunity!

Don has always been supportive of local artists, offering the Whyte Space as an exhibiting wall in the framing studio, and the popular Off Cuts show, his annual fundraising initiative. In 2013 Don collaborated with Off the Leash in the Stand Up project and has supported numerous key events in Darwin’s arts calendar over many years.

This exhibition is a tribute to Don – for his follies and his foibles – and to showcase the work of his talented staff (and ‘associates’), both past and present and credits them for putting up with Don for so long!

Off Whyte features a diverse array of work:  the small-scale but sublime still life paintings by Matt Mainsbridge, a localised landscape from Paul Myatt and a sculptural red herring by Leon Waud. Painterly work by Miranda Roussel, Fiona Sivyer and the fine brush of Pennyrose Wiggins contrast with Colin Holt’s classical expressionism from times past. Quirky concepts form Dave Wickens, and an etching  by Kylie Walsh. Merran Sierakowski, Chayni Henry and Franck Gohier never fail to delight with the their visions and metaphors of popular culture, so too the provocative digital commentary from Chips Mackinolty and Therese Ritchie and the writhing textural surfaces from Don himself.

Look out for the car bonnets!