Alice and Beyond New Work by Janet and Mike Green at LDFA
Recent travels in Central Australia are the inspiration for new artwork by Janet and Mike Green now showing at Lauraine Diggins Fine Art. Alice and Beyond extends existing artistic ideas in the light of the majestic ancient landscape of the central Australian desert encompassing Uluru, Kata Tjuta and the McDonnell Ranges.
Venue: Lauraine Diggins Fine Art
Address: North Caulfield AUSTRALIA
Web: www.diggins.com.au
: https://www.facebook.com/lauraine.fineart
Address: North Caulfield AUSTRALIA
Web: www.diggins.com.au
: https://www.facebook.com/lauraine.fineart
Janet's usual preferred format of depicting a realistic array of still life elements within the landscape is accompanied by watercolour studies painted en plein air and a series of ceramic works. Following the tradition of Dutch seventeenth century still life painting, with their elaborate display of fruits and ornate vessels, Janet selects her objects to complement and contrast with the landscape depicted in the background of her paintings; creating a discourse between the rich use of colour in the foreground still life and background landscape, and the undulating forms of the landscape and the elements carefully selected to draw the viewer's eye. There is an inherent symbolism in any such nature morte', with links between the ripeness and subsequent decay of the fruits on display. This may perhaps be seen to be echoed in Janet's usually fertile landscapes which tend to eschew any signs of human intervention; a commentary on pristine nature and today's real concerns of environmental and conservation issues. Despite this, Janet's work tends towards a joyous play of colour, light and form, drawing the viewer into the landscape and delighting us with the opulent display.
Mike Green, known as one of Australia's most skilled watercolourists, able to produce works in this difficult medium over a large scale, has here turned to using synthetic polymer on canvas, which captures the intense saturated colour of the red earth and wide blue skies. The paintings are based on gouache studies created during his time in the central Australian landscape, a medium much more forgiving and conducive to mixing colours and capturing images quickly with the ever-changing light. The viewer is transported through each work's sense of place and presence.
Mike continues to explore his personal heritage, Anglo-Irish on his father's side and Tongan experience on his mother's side, with excerpts from historic family correspondence featuring regularly in his work. Mike's striking, elaborate multi-panelled constructions with their links between present and past, family history and memory, reveal an artist delighting in materials, with paint on paper of different types, plastic and strips of text carefully and deliberately combined to create a rich and complex whole. They are almost sculptural in their construct. And indeed, the exhibition includes two sculptures, Guddea's Gatherer and Bones a series of eight individual bones', which can be piled together in an endless series of configurations, inscribed with snippets of family letters expressing the writer's experience and attitude to war.
Showing at Lauraine Diggins Fine Art 17 November - 15 December 2018
5 Malakoff Street North Caulfield VIC 3161 Gallery Hours: Tues - Fri 10am - 6pm, Sat 1pm - 5pm
View works and download catalogue on our website www.diggins.com.au
Mike Green, known as one of Australia's most skilled watercolourists, able to produce works in this difficult medium over a large scale, has here turned to using synthetic polymer on canvas, which captures the intense saturated colour of the red earth and wide blue skies. The paintings are based on gouache studies created during his time in the central Australian landscape, a medium much more forgiving and conducive to mixing colours and capturing images quickly with the ever-changing light. The viewer is transported through each work's sense of place and presence.
Mike continues to explore his personal heritage, Anglo-Irish on his father's side and Tongan experience on his mother's side, with excerpts from historic family correspondence featuring regularly in his work. Mike's striking, elaborate multi-panelled constructions with their links between present and past, family history and memory, reveal an artist delighting in materials, with paint on paper of different types, plastic and strips of text carefully and deliberately combined to create a rich and complex whole. They are almost sculptural in their construct. And indeed, the exhibition includes two sculptures, Guddea's Gatherer and Bones a series of eight individual bones', which can be piled together in an endless series of configurations, inscribed with snippets of family letters expressing the writer's experience and attitude to war.
Showing at Lauraine Diggins Fine Art 17 November - 15 December 2018
5 Malakoff Street North Caulfield VIC 3161 Gallery Hours: Tues - Fri 10am - 6pm, Sat 1pm - 5pm
View works and download catalogue on our website www.diggins.com.au