The in-between spaces

The in-between space

Watercolour on Arches Paper

57cm x 37cm

This is a painting from a space in-between I found when I was walking from A to B. I love walking. I often walk rather than take the car or bus. It takes me longer but I enjoy it. I enjoy feeling how spaces connect. So often we rely on transport to take us from A to B without enjoying those spaces in-between. I am a fan of the author Will Self who has written a book called Psychogeography. Basically, he argues that transport, particularly the car, has removed us from understand our landscape. He proposes that people understand the world as a series of disconnected microcosms without any understand how they relate. To better understand the landscape people should walk more.

Eastgardens Watercolour

Eastgardens Watercolour

Watercolour on Arches Paper

57cm x 38cm

This is the view looking south from the Westfield Eastgardens carpark. The view looks down Denison Street and eventually to Port Botany on the horizon. The distinctive red roofs illustrate the residential area of this landscape.

Auctioning the Landscape

Auctioning the Landscape

Acyric, Ink, Collage, Chinese Paints on Card
64cm x 51cm

This piece is an experiment using collage and even looser treatment of the landscape. The collage comes from the Southern Courier a local paper that has a large section with local real estate advertisments. The idea was to reference the fundamental aspect of economic value in the construction of the landscape. I really enjoy the work of Mark Bradford who uses collage in a unique way to create abstract map-like, layered pieces. Bradford finds all the materials used from the street in the form of posters or flyers then reappropriates them as an artwork.

Abstracting rock patterns

Clovelly and the Vans

Chinese Paint and Ink on Rice Paper

42cm x 40cm

Clovelly Monochrome Ink Sketch

Chinese Ink on Rice Paper

58cm x 42cm

In these ink sketches I am reducing the landscape to pattern from the water and rock. The sandstone rock provides endless reference for abstraction.

La Perouse Ink Path

La Perouse Ink Path

Chinese Ink and Paint on Rice Paper

42cm x 65cm

This pathway runs parallel to the coast of Botany Bay and is set within the urban suburb of La Perouse. Yet , at times the density of the forest removes all of these geographical associations for a moment so that the pathway could be anywhere in the bush. I enjoy these spaces in the city where I can feel emersed in 'nature'.

This piece on rice paper, a wonderful translucent surface, and as I am learning a less robust one. In the centre of the painting you may notice a hole where you can see my ink covered drawing board.

Paths to Abstraction

I have reviewed the present Paths to Abstraction exhibition on at the Gallery of New South Wales in Sydney. The exhibition brings together over 150 pieces from Impressionism, Nabis, Fauvism, Cubism and Dada, to name a few. The basic premise of the exhibition challenges the idea of a hegemonic narrative and suggests is that there was no single movement to abstraction in European art but rather the paths to abstraction in were varied and unpredictable. The article can be read here in the New Linear Perspectives the literary arts and culture journal. 

Watson Bay Boat Sketch

Watson Bay Boat Sketch

Watercolour, Ink and Chinese Paint on Arches 300gsm

33cm x 24cm