SPIRIT IN THE LAND

23 February–1 April 2012

In Western art, landscape has relatively recently become a subject in its own right and for many indigenous societies, the body has been the focus of their culture. However, Australia uniquely is a place where the land has been the all-absorbing subject for both indigenous and non-indigenous populations. Spirit in the Land explores the connection amongst eleven Australian artists, historical and contemporary, indigenous and non-indigenous, and their appreciation of and engagement with the spiritual ethos and power of the land.

The painters and sculptors included are: Lorraine Connelly-Northey, John  Davis, Russell Drysdale, Rosalie Gascoigne, Emily Kame Kngwarreye, Dorothy Napangardi, Sidney Nolan, John Olsen, Lin Onus, Rover Thomas and Fred Williams.

Works have been selected for their thematic and metaphysic connections, such as the   visionary aerial perspectives of Dorothy Napangardi and Sidney Nolan and the notions of mapping seen in Rover Thomas' desert paintings and John Olsen's visual journeys. Fred Williams structures his paintings around the distribution of water which is echoed in the linear patterns of Emily Kngwarreye's yam dreaming.   Lin Onus' and John Davis' works explore the interchange between indigenous and non-indigenous traditions and images. Russell Drysdale's desert paintings testify to the power of this harsh land to defeat European settlement attempts while Lorraine Connelly-Northey's and Rosalie Gascoigne‘s elegantly weathered and somewhat melancholy works evoke our recent pastoral history.

Curated by Robert Lindsay, Director, and Penny Teale, Senior Curator of McClelland Gallery + Sculpture Park and is toured by National Exhibitions Touring Support (NETS) Victoria.

Image: Russell Drysdale, The crow trap, 1941, oil on fibro-cement panel. Newcastle Region Art Gallery, New South Wales. Gift of Dr Roland Pope, 1945.

KARL WIEBKE: PAINTING 1994-2012

5 April–13 May 2012

For Melbourne artist Karl Wiebke the making of images as in the representation of objects and the creation of visual effects that do not grow out of the painting process itself is an archaic and unnecessary obstacle to the making of art. ‘I am a painter reducing my means to the ground, the paint and the instrument and asking myself "what is it that I am doing."' (Artistprofile p65 Issue 5 2008)

This survey exhibition focuses on Wiebke's painting oeuvre. With each series of works Wiebke sets up a different process to explore the object-ness of painting itself, teasing out the properties and possibilities of the medium.  The earliest works in the exhibition are heavily layered paint drips that have been applied over a period of several years so that they accrete a thickness that makes them manifestly three dimensional. These paintings were produced outdoors so that weather events such as rain drops and sun bleaching could leave evidence of the passing of real time on their substance. With his 2003-5 series Wiebke's procedure was to weave a painted surface with lines in a single colour on a monochrome ground, methodically applying a fine line that ultimately alters our perception of the ground. This is art where the relationship between artist and materials is peculiarly intimate, affected by process, time and deliberation. Wiebke's more recent works have further pushed the boundaries of the concept of traditional painting practice working on large rings and fine rods that invite viewers to include the spatial context and any incidental phenomena into their perception of the works.

Curated by Tony Oates.

Image: Karl Wiebke, Sticks (installation view), acrylic and enamel on wood. Courtesy the artist and Liverpool Street Gallery, Sydney.