Curtain aside
One of my favorite paintings is Francis Bacon’s, ‘Study from the human body’ (1949) at the National Gallery of Victoria. Bacon’s painting shows a figure as he steps through a curtained wall, into a space that is visually denied to us but where our imagination is asked to follow. It is a space of ‘deepened mystery’.
Curtain aside is a display of paintings that flourished in that ‘magic’ space — where ideas and thoughts take flight, take shape and then transferred to the canvas. The viewer is invited to push aside the curtain and share a glimpse of my happy struggles with paint.
I like how Henri Matisse explains that he does not paint objects, but instead, the relationship between objects. This evokes a similar energized space, that is not just visual and suggests that what we don’t see can be more powerful than what we do see. It prompts me to think less about what I’m painting and more about why I am painting.
Curtain aside exhibited at Stephen McLaughlan Gallery, Melbourne March 23 - April 27 2022.
Walled garden Oil on canvas 100 x 100 cm 2021
Coins to a cat Oil on canvas 100 x 100 cm 2021
The Pavilion to Memory Oil on canvas 100 x 100 cm 2021
The fragrance of yellow Oil on canvas 100 x 100 cm 2021
Green curtain Oil on canvas 100 x 100 cm 2021
A grotto of solitude Oil on canvas 100 x 100 cm 2021
No smile for the angry donkey Oil on canvas 100 x 100 cm 2021
