The Murray Rise - Danks Street, November 13-24, 2012

United by the Land and Water

Artists, Rachel Carroll, Mark Rhodes and Lisa Woolfe are united by the land. In three concurrent solo exhibitions at Depot II Gallery, Danks Street Waterloo each painter presents a unique view of the Australian landscape.

Rachel Carroll furthers her visual exploration of the Murray Darling. Rachel’s collection of paintings, drawings and prints not only highlight the beauty of the Murray, but also the struggle of it’s survival. During this journey Rachel went in search of the Murray Rise- the origins of the Murray. This results are breath taking as the first 30km of the Murray River unveiled its lasting beauty, its water and its wild life in Mt Kosioscko National Park.

Mark Rhodes’s atmospheric paintings of the ocean pay homage to the great forces that both create and destroy our Northern Beaches landscape.

Lisa Woolfe immerses herself in specific bush locations and presents a unique topographical record of the landscape, the seasonal evolution and its inhabitants.

These three artists explore the green belt around our city walls and through their eyes we gain a new fresh insight into our natural world.

Ann Thomson

Ok One more, on Friday night I went to the new exhibition at Manly Regional Art Gallery opened by Ann Thompson.
Another hero of mine in the Sydney art scene. We first met in 2008 at my post masters graduation solo at Gallery East in Clovelly. I am sooo bad with dates but after I spoke to Ann on Friday night the dates all came flashing back. Ann at the time kindly surveyed my first series of paintings from the Coorong SA. She simply said "Use more variety in your greens."
Last night we discussed the future and it continues with energy and grander size.
But what inspired me most was her speech about Art, science and abstraction.......
I quote but not word for word...
Art and science are similar in that they both allow us to see the world in a new way and more deeply. But art may be ahead of science because artists look for pattern, form and content.

Ann went on to describe abtraction..
To understand abstraction you need to see how it happens, how it is built,over time. Intuitive memory has a large part to play as does the sheer joy of the material.
I conclude that abstraction is science in it pure form.

I can't wait to start painting again.

Kevin Connor

I met Kevin Connor at the Elizabeth Cummins retrospect at the S.H Ervin Gallery. For
those that have not seen it go now. Both Elizabeth and Kevin are hero's of mine in the art world of Sydney. Kevin must be in his 70's but he has not aged since I met him while doing my honours in 1997. And he remembered our coffee. I was over joyed, again trying not to be star struck, but his energy and evolution as an artist has always inspired me. For me Kevin sees with his hands and it is so exciting.

ANDREW Johns

Henry and Lucy

I try not to be star struck, but Andrew Johns bought one of my paintings this week.

We had a lovely chat about Rainbow Parrots. He is a very sweet guy who loves his kids.

It was fun to compare bird notes.