Rather than ’framing Nature’, Elaine Green’s work has always resonated the 19th century Romantic notion of elevating landscape painting to a metaphysical level. It is seen as the extension of an inner sense of being, a place where Nature and Self are fused. The difference between the observer and the observed is subsumed in a boundless luminosity. ‘Like all artists I am constantly seeking the light,’ she reflects. ‘The troposphere, constantly in motion, provides never-ending inspiration and challenges to capture that light and the changing moods of the environment.’
The title of Seabastion Toast’s new body of work embodies the notion of a fleeting, intangible ‘present’. Thought provoking, the apparent contradiction in its conjunction of words serves to liberate the imagination from the confines of convention and a linear reality. “I have a long standing interest in the tension and spaces between dichotomies,” she remarks. “It’s to do with perception. I like the enigmatic title of the show because it speaks of the subjective nature of time; the impermanence of things, the briefly wondrous.”
The exhibition celebrates Melbourne-based Samantha Everton’s 13 years of internationally recognised and multi-awarded photographic art making. The six series of works each visually explores the ‘straddling of dual worlds’ in a quest for self-identity and transcendence amidst cultural variances. Everton divulges she only subsequently realised that the scenarios and the characters inhabiting them had ‘grown up’ or evolved over the years, finding culmination and resolution in her most recent series, Indochine.
Fanciful, hybrid creatures populate Jill Lewis’s densely textured surfaces. Metaphorical intent imbues the imagery and her ‘silent conversations’. “Painting is my preferred method of communication with the world,” says the Melbourne-based artist. “I think in pictures.” Jill describes herself as a “bit of a people watcher”, revealing that it provides abundant inspiration for her art making. “Observing people’s behaviours from a distance can often tell me more about them than hearing their words. I’m interested in body language and facial expressions, particularly those conveyed in different social situations. It’s about the position characters take when relating to one another within a particular context and space. For me the canvas equates to such a space.”
Like an echo across time and now through the eyes of an adult I revisit the theme of the home, along with other favourite themes and ideas inspired by everyday life and memories of the Australian countryside, city life, travel and literature.
Peter Smets’ new body of work again accents the consequences of progress and technological change upon the landscape and its inhabitants. Carefully researched source material has been meticulously reconstructed in the studio where significant imagery was lifted out of its original context and presented as aesthetic phenomena. The sense of actual place is ambiguous but we inevitably feel a familiarity. Although cultural, environmental and economic interests are implicit, the paintings have an extraordinary psychological presence and metaphorical relevance.
Jodie’s art makes no attempt to capture flora and fauna as a naturalist painter might do. An intense involvement with the materiality of her oil medium lifts her imagery beyond mere representation. The instinctual energy of Jodie’s luscious markings radiates a direct, sensory appeal. We encounter nature in all its textural vividness through the gestural freedom and quality of her palette knife technique. The vitality of Jodie’s tactile surfaces offers an alternative way to respond to our own environments – to experience the pleasure in just looking and feeling without recourse to analysis.
Sir Gawain and the Perilous Graveyard is the final book in Marilyn Peck’s Sir Gawain Trilogy. It is based on a chivalric romance written by an anonymous author in 13th century, the manuscript of which is preserved in the Musee Conde, Chantilly, France. As in Peck’s previous works the text was personally translated from Middle English diction and subsequently illuminated. Fifty-four sumptuous illustrations aspire to manifest the esoteric dimensions inherent in all Arthurian tales.
In cultures dominated by logic, intellect and linear thinking, life can become a problem to be solved rather than a mystery to be enjoyed. Sydney-based Sophie Gralton’s signature imagery animates a shift in consciousness back to a more intuitive realm – that of the vulnerable innocence, curiosity, spontaneity and unbounded potentiality which characterises childhood.
The Charles Blackman survey exhibition at Anthea Polson Art celebrates the ninetieth year of one of Australia’s greatest cultural icons. Charles passed away shortly after his birthday in August this year. A vital force in every sense, he kept working right up until his final days, bringing forth quite illuminated and spiritual images.
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