Everything that seems solid shifts with time. Everything passes and traces may be left in different forms, pieces, objects, words markings, sometimes nothing at all.
1
Port Arthur, 1994, oil on canvas, approx 120cm x 95cm,
This work was is about presence. The foreboding presence of Port Arthur, but mostly the quiet, old-man persona of the child sitter, as if he's seen and knows things the onlooker does not. This was before the tragic events of a later date, before the stillness of the place was hijacked by tourism. But that's another story...
2
The Writing on the Wall, 2011, Mixed media, approx 40cm x40cm
this image was made for a the Ross (Tasmania) 2011 Painting the Town competition, 2011. The goal no longer exists. There is no trace of it now (just like the inhabitants), except a small window with a bar which is blocked off with sandstone. You view it over a sandstone wall, through an arch also of stone which was probably once the entrance to the exercise yard.
I used paper and illegible text to try and capture something of the ephemeral nature of the subject matter, inmates and building. Nothing is what it seems. Even solid rock can be crushed as was the memory of the inmates.
I wanted it to be something with many layers (of medium and of meanings). I think there is a lot of metaphor but my aim was to keep it simple so that those layers are revealed slowly and at different times by the viewer.
It was also a fun way to make use of paper, paint and glue.
No comments:
Post a Comment