George Miller’s genre-defining Mad Max film series has grown from a tense, low budget Ozsploitation cult hit into a sprawling post apocalypse action opera, redefining science fiction along the way. A complex and compelling mashup of biker, S/M, gearhead, Queer and beefcake cultures and their associated aesthetics, Mad Max has become a cosplay favourite, and has become massively influential in cultural terms, being ripped off, satirised and idolised by sources as varied as The Simpsons, Phil Collins, video games and pro wrestling.
With its grab bag aesthetics, subversive politics and lustful, irreverent approach to Australian hoon culture, Mad Max has remained a cultural touchstone, and a highly influential convergence of tropes, images and iconoclasm, ideal inspiration for visual artists. Bringing together a range of artists paying homage to their favourite post-apocalyptic (anti)hero, it’s time for Maximum Madness.
Claire & Sean's works We Hunt Mammoth (2018) and Wake in Fright (2023) are influenced by Japan's Dekotora truck tradition. Dekotora, short for 'decoration trucks' is a fascinating take on car culture, and has its own origins in cinema. In the 70s, a Tokyo-based entertainment company released the first of ten films called Torakku Yarō, or Truck Guys, which featured blinged out decorated trucks being driven around Japan. This movie's popularity spawned a subculture which persists to this day, often incorporating lights, spaypainted graphics, and elaborate bodywork.
Some of the more outlandish vehicles of Fury Road seem to have been influenced by Dekotora, particularly the Doof Wagon. Included with their large scale piece, We Hunt Mammoth, a vehicle dismantled and displayed piecemeal using netting, Healy and Cordeiro's works situate the forms of vehicles that we so frequently associate with function well within the zones of aesthetic, dovetailing the practical and the decorative.
Originally exhibited at Rockhampton Museum of Art 16 March - 30 June 2024.
