Opening soon: Falling Upwards Exhibition at Stella Downer Fine Art
A new painting for the exhibition - so ‘hot off the easel’ it’s not yet titled
It’s just seven days until the opening of my new exhibition of landscape paintings and I’m feeling both excited and curious. I have yet to see all the work hanging together on clean white walls and I’m looking forward to it immensely.
Hanging an exhibition with Stella Downer is always wonderful! Early that morning I load my car with the wrapped work and make the hour’s trip from the Blue Mountains to Waterloo. Once the paintings are unpacked and standing around the gallery walls Stella does a walk around. She looks intently - sensing and noticing relationships and contrasts. Then, under her thoughtful direction, her exhibition assistant changes the order of the paintings until she is satisfied.
She explained to me once, (in my words, not hers), that she aims to arrange them to create flow and pauses, like fluent text with well-placed punctuation marks. She crafts a kind of visual rhythm across the body of work that takes the viewer on a journey. Much as I do within the bounds of each image, she composes a work comprised of many parts that has unity and variety, movement and stillness, space and depth. It is a wonder and a privilege to have her exhibit my paintings with such art and consideration.
Another reason I’m excited about this new exhibition is that I finally get to share the work I have been beavering away on in my studio for the past 14 months. In particular, I look forward to receiving your feedback on some paintings that may surprise you - they lean heavily towards abstraction. Evoking light shimmering on water, they seemed a natural progression in my exploration of reflected images - the mirroring of the sky, trees and reeds in water. They’re so fresh, they’re not yet on my website or Stella’s, but you can see one above.
The exhibition also includes a series of little alla prima works - just 6 x 12 inches, that employ gestural, bold brush marks applied rapidly, with directness. They are like portals, opening to vast skies and broad open spaces. They invite you to come close, to peer into their depths.
I hope I have piqued your curiosity and that you are keen to come and see ‘Falling Upwards’. It runs from Tues 3 until Saturday 28 March. The gallery hours are Tues - Fri, 10 am to 5 pm and Saturday, 11 am to 5 pm. The opening drinks are on Saturday 7th March at 3 - 5 pm and I’d love to see you there!
You can check out the catalogue on the Stella Downer Fine Art website, but feel free to drop me a line if you want more information.
