Painting the Town Blak

Clinton Naina (formerly Nain) is a painter, dancer, performer and storyteller. Naina came to prominence in the late 1990s with a poignant series titled White King, Blak Queen, which used a combination of bleach and bitumen to explore the tainted path of colonisation. His unique combination of materials and potent imagery exposes the impact of British settlement and imposed religious order on his people from the Torres Strait Islands.

The selection of artworks in Painting the Town Blak brings together recent paintings from the exhibition Passive Aggressive Power at Gallerysmith with new, previously unseen pieces and other works, including a work from City of Yarra’s Art Collection.

Clinton Naina is represented by Gallerysmith, Melbourne.

Painting the Town Blak was exhibited at the Richmond Town Hall from 5 July―25 October 2019.

Image Credit: Clinton Naina, Painting the Town Blak, 2019, installation view, Richmond Town Hall. Photo by J. Forsyth. Clinton Naina is represented by Gallerysmith, Melbourne.