As one of Australia’s most exciting contemporary artists, Jon Campbell created Stacks On, a massive assemblage of light boxes and banners, adorned with sewn and painted elements leading us from the northern entrance to the majestic dome of the Royal Exhibition Building.

Taking materials from the everyday and assembling them to match his personal sensibilities, Campbell has been called an Australian ‘pop painter’.

Paintings, cut-outs, banners, neons and placards demonstrate his love of suburbia and its vernacular, popular music and its attendant culture, printing, design and advertising, sport and youth culture. His works define not only the look of the world in which Campbell lives, but the accent and humour of its language and how signs can articulate its culture and history. These signs contain text that are sometimes loud and boisterous but never offensively so. They have a beauty about them that encourages belief.

With his use of words and phrases as imagery, Campbell captures aspects of his culture that are both lived and observed, that are local, national and international, and – can be spoken, written, sung and read. Campbell’s masterfully realised signs, cut-outs, banners and placards demonstrate his love of the vernacular and popular music and its attendant culture – printing, design and advertising, sport and youth culture. His works define not only the look of the world in which he lives, but the accent and humour of language and how signs can articulate culture and history.

Light boxes: Twelve light boxes presented in three stacks. Aluminium, two pac enamel spray paint, acrylic and vinyl faces
Each stack approximately 400 cm (h)
Each light box between 60 x 40 x 20 cm and 200 x 100 x 90 cm
Banners: Twelve screen-printed and hand stitched banners
Water based printing ink, cotton, linen, damask and towelling
Each banner from 350 x 100 cm to 220 x 120 cm

Stacks On was commissioned by the Melbourne Art Foundation for the Melbourne Art Fair 2010 and donated to the collection of the Museum of Contemporary Art, Sydney.