There’s something distinctly nostalgic behind the name of Anthony Listers upcoming Sydney show at Chalk Horse Gallery, Memories Not Included -  the title itself feels as if it harkens back to the much loved movie Batteries Not Included of my youth, and, on the surface at least, the titulary play of words from the outset grabbed my attention – so, when I briefly caught up with Lister this week, and I asked him about what the show represented, he replied, simply, “I broke my foot, and this is what I made.”

Its this fundamental ease at which an artist can comment on their work, that always piques my interest – because although it my appear to be so, Listers work is anything but simple. Drawing on a wide range of experience and influences, Listers work often delves into the subconscious of our youth, and allows the viewer to actually participate in his work, rather than to be relegated to the position of a mere bystander.
 

Since moving to New York City seven years ago, to mentor under Max Gimblet, Listers work has gone from strength to strength, and its obvious that his love of the city has helped his art to grow in length and bounds.

”New York has been amazing to me and I love everything about it,” he remarked, when I asked him about the last couple of years living there. “It seems crazy to think about what I did in those earlier years, and how the decisions I made, and the risks I took to push myself and my work. I don’t know if I would have the courage to do it again, now, knowing how much hard work it would be – things are different, now – I know my way around.“
 

With a fair bit of recent press also, in regards to the recent buffing of one of Listers murals by the Brisbane City Council, its obvious that he is still as enthusiastic about his public work, as he is about his gallery work, but its also obvious that the whole media side of such shit always takes a back seat to his real motivations – “It got a bunch of media attention,” he remarked, “but at the end of the day, the wall owners were pissed, the council was pissed, the graffiti task force was pissed – and there I was, just wanting to re-paint the wall.”
 

 
For me, really, it was only when I was having a browse through the preview images that he sent through to us, that my thoughts on his work suddenly coalesced for the first time – and, to be honest, previously I hadn’t really formulated a solid opinion beyond “Oh yeah, Listers work really rocks” – but something in the images resonated, and I suddenly saw what all the fuss has been about – it was like having a small light bulb go off in my head, cartoon style.
 

 
Flicking thorough those same images as you see here, I had that sudden moment of clarity, in the form of a vivid memory of having watched Return Of The Jedi in the cinemas when I was eight years old – specifically the scene where the two Ewoks are hit by a blast from an AT-ST – afterwards, one of them gets up .. the other, remained a fallen causality, and no amount of shaking by his friend awakened him – and I recalled the emotion I felt at that moment; the very first time I had felt a real emotion whilst watching a movie or TV show.
 

 
There’s a very specific point behind that previous anecdote – and that is that by viewing a simple collection of images, I was able to be transported back in time and had a very clear and detailed emotion invoked, and sure, its situational and circumstantial – I’m an 80s child after all – but to me, this is one of the core components of good art – that ability to draw out something within the viewer. Seemingly, the last few years of hard work has exposed that sense of evocation in Lister work in a much more defined fashion – it was always there, but it now appears to have taken centre stage in a much more definitive manner.
 

 
With both his paintings in the coming show, as well as the sculptures show here, it is this invocation of the memory within that will continue to solidify Listers growing reputation, and yet the products of his creativity often belie the effort and years of painstakingly building up techniques and skills – but this attitude, subtlety, and the meandering play between simplicity and complexity is also a two way mirror between the artist and his work– and, at the end of the day, what better way is there to charm the viewer than by drawing on iconic characters from their youth?

“It’s all a re-visit to the super hero series works I have made in the past,” he concluded.  “I’ve always wanted to do a solid ‘supers’ show in Sydney but hadn’t got the chance to do it in a gallery I wanted to do it in until now, and, in my opinion, it is the best body of work I have ever constructed, actually.”
 

 
Who: Anthony Lister
What: Memories Not Included
Where: Chalk Horse Gallery, 94 Cooper St, Surry Hills, NSW
When: Show opens 25th November, and runs til 18th December

Check out more of Anthony Listers work on his website.