The first in a series of three annual
exhibitions organised by the Art
Gallery of New South Wales, New
Painting in Australia:
Phenomena will survey current
painting practice by leading artists
from around Australia – some familiar
names, others not so well known. The
exhibitions will highlight the relevance
of Australian painting to contemporary culture at the beginning of the new
millennium.
From the enormous variety of different painters and painting styles currently seen in
Australia, the curator has selected a group of fourteen artists who are breaking new
grounds in their careers with some of their best works to date. All are individuals,
not part of a defined school, yet all share a concern for painting more than just a
simulation of what is seen by the eye. Above all, they are concerned with notions of
poetry and beauty which can be appreciated over and above their conceptual
concerns.
One of the artists in the exhibition, Howard Taylor, lives and works amongst the
giant karri forests in the far south of Western Australia. While at first glance his work
looks abstract, from closer viewing, you get something akin to the feeling of being in
the land. In contrast to this, another Western Australian artist, Cathy Blanchflower,
has painted brightly coloured paintings that create an optical illusion of shifting
patterns that simulate the feeling of being constantly bombarded by visual stimuli
such as television, advertising and flashing lights
Some of the artists reflect a more spiritual approach to the phenomena of living;
Jennifer Joseph, for instance combines her interest in Buddhist Philosophy with
her knowledge of Western art to make very poetic statements about acceptance and
impermanence. Painting on well-worn tea chest lids, she allows the marks, stamps
and scratches on the wood to tell a story about the appreciation and acceptance of
the past in the present.
Other artists use compositional devises that equate with more general phenomena
within our society. For instance, the deliberate imbalance in Stephen McCarthy’s
painting are a reflection of the artists perception of imbalance in society and
likewise, the ‘out of register’ central line dividing two seemingly identical patterns on
a single canvas in Debra Dawes’ work, reflects her perception of this inability in our
society to meet on common ground.
New Painting in Australia: Phenomena invites the audience to look at
seemingly abstract painting and experience a feeling from them without
presupposing any experience or knowledge of Contemporary art.
IMAGE:
Howard Taylor
Discovery, 2000
oil on marine ply,
200 x 190 x 36cm
courtesy of the artist and Galerie Dusseldorf, Perth
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