Kerry Packer art exhibition remembered, Sydney, Australia

Profiles

Kerry Packer Art Gaming Casinos Markets Business Entertainment

This storyteller’s story must be told. Gina Sinozich is an 80 year old, Croatian born, Sydney based artist who paints in order to recycle memory. Sinozich’s latest exhibition, Kerry Packer and Friends, is her first solo commercial show in Sydney and tells the story of the infamous Kerry Packer - demystifying the complexities of a man who was known for his exuberant wealth, lavish gambling habits, extensive business empire, and clashes with the Australian government.

Migrating to Australia in 1956, Sinozich began to paint at the age of 75, now having work in Australian and New Zealand corporate and public collections. Her show unveils Packer as ‘one of us’ rather than an untouchable media tycoon. Sinozich was inspired to tell his story on the premise that we often hear the bad before the good. This tribute to Packer is generous and draws the curtains back on one of the most powerful men in the world, who in 2004, was estimated to have a net worth of AUD 6.5 billion. The work of Sinozich will be showcased at NG Art Gallery from the 7th-23rd of December and is sure to enliven audiences with its lush and poetic aesthetic.

For Sinozich, Packer gave back to society in a meaningful way and her honorary series was intended to stand as a testament for this man’s intrinsic goodwill after his death in December 2005. She recites a story that fuelled her initial interest in Packer, “…one lady said that she was on George Street with two little kids behind her and she was running…running to go on the train, and he (Packer) stopped her and said, ‘don’t you have a car?’ and he wrote a cheque for her and said here, ‘buy yourself a car’.” Sinozich also fondly recalls, “…when he was playing in casino in Perth he won so much money and the girl who was serving wine…he asked her, ‘do you have a mortgage on the house?’ she said ‘yes’, then he wrote a cheque for AUD 600,000.”

The artist worked ferociously for two weeks and managed to produce twenty-six paintings that delve deep into her subject’s nature, delineating the generalised conception of Packer as an uncompromising media mogul.Packer’s mark of respect is juxtaposed by a series of works depicting the homeless. All the characters in Sinozich’s work have their own stories to tell, and it has been her mission to fill in their gaps and silences. Sinozich has given them a voice through gripping work that entices us with its raw intelligence.

Quite remarkably, and perhaps unknowingly, Sinozich has made a poignant statement with work that goes back to basics. Her work is simple and honest – reinvigorating the muscle of traditional representational painting, which has been lost in the haze that is today’s contemporary art world.

Websites

NG Gallery (Kerry Packer & Friends)

News

Costigan Commission Going After Kerry Packer (Gambling911)

Australian's Kerry Packer and Ita Buttrose In New Cleo TV Show, by Greg Tingle - 6th April 2011

Kerry Packer: Tall tales & true stories - 1st March 2015