Exhibition - Abridged

Students from the Bachelor of Visual Arts held an exhibition on the bridge linking buildings at the Gordon. The exhibition explored mans impact on nature.
I exhibited three works. Forest Suburbia, Breath and Harbinger Tweet. 

FOREST SUBURBIA

FOREST SUBURBIA

Over the last decade the skyline has changed in the street where I live as in many other older suburbs.

Homes on large blocks with their established gardens and trees have been bulldozed, completely razed, and in just a few days.

The builders arrive and the matching townhouses are built. They are jutted together with common concrete drives and tiny spaces for gardens. Sometimes there is grass and sometimes the grass is artificial, but always there is no room for trees.

Property developers are making maximum profit from the lack of foresight of urban planners.

Trees have benefits. They cool the suburbs, provide shade for homes, absorb carbon thus cleaning the air we breathe. Trees are a habitat for birds and other wildlife. Trees add beauty, give privacy, softening a harsh skyline, and ironically increase the value of property.

When trees are taken away privacy is lost and the blinds come down. With no yard to play in the TV goes on. With no shade the house gets hotter and the air conditioner goes on. And the birds move away because their habitat is gone.

‘Forest Suburbia’ depicts the tall trees being felled by the chain saw leaving a skyline of power poles and power lines, TV antennas and ventilation pipes. Phthalo Green is a pigment made through a synthetic chemical process and it is this artificial color that is used for the sky silhouetting the artificial forest.

Graphite, charcoal synthetic polymer on brown paper.
Triptych 1500x100cm

Walking man

These drawings  explore shadows and viewing from an elevation. 
These studies are from photos I have taken at Southern Cross Station, looking down on the commuters. 

The shadows take on a new form  when they become the focus.

Drawing the same image on wood gives a different atmosphere.

Silver Spoons

In our drawing class we learnt the technique of burnishing using the back of a silver spoon. My endeavours were not very successful , so I decided to draw the spoons instead.

Journal Entry. Graphite and oil on paper. 15 x 21cm

Graphite and oil on paper. 21 x 30cm

Silver Falling, Charcoal and graphite on paper 420 x 594 mm

I began drawing this at the time of the earthquakes in New Zealand and Japan.

 In each spoon is the reflection of the owner.

Charcoal and pastel on paper, 420 x 594mm

Suspension File Trees

These drawings were created after a trip north along the Hume. Just north of Albury were some bare paddocks where the stubble had been burnt with a few trees on the the crest of the hill.
These were drawn on green suspension files, an interesting colour as a ground.


Charcoal, pigments, lamp black, medium on card (suspension file)
each 36 x 46 cm

Eagle Warrior

During drawing classes, I discovered an image of 'Eagle Warrior', an earthenware and plaster statue from the Aztec culture c.1480. This was the inspiration for the following pieces.

Eagle Warrior, Artist unknown, Painted earthen ware and plaster, H 200cm, Museo de Templo Major, Mexico City, c.1480

'Warrior shape'

'Warrior' - acrylic and pigment on canvas, 32x64cm

'Feathers' -  Acrylic and pigment on canvas, 32x54cm

'Warrior Flight' - acrylic and pigment on wood, 4 panels 24x24cm

'Wing' - Charcoal, pigment and acrylic on paper, 86x100cm

'Warrior shape'

'Warrior' - acrylic and pigment on canvas, 32x64cm

'Feathers' -  Acrylic and pigment on canvas, 32x54cm

'Warrior Flight' - acrylic and pigment on wood, 4 panels 24x24cm

Eagle Warrior

During drawing classes, I discovered an image of 'Eagle Warrior', an earthenware and plaster statue from the Aztec culture c.1480. This was the inspiration for the following pieces.