Topsy Turvy

Gabby Malpas is reworking the centuries-old European chinoiserie genre. Gabby’s lavish imagery could be interpreted as purely decorative but many of her paintings have stories based on her life experience as a Chinese adoptee raised in a white family in NZ, and as an immigrant to the UK and Australia. The end results are joyful and colourful works but with a narrative that draws the viewer in for a closer look.