Sublime Point: The Landscape In Painting

11 October 2014 to 30 November 2014

_{Image: Sally Gabori Dibirdibi Country 2011, synthetic polymer paint on linen. Courtesy of the artist and Alcaston Gallery Melbourne.}

The works of 25 leading painters illustrated a diversity of approaches with some interesting intersections as well as differences. The exhibition included a new large scale commissioned work by James Dodd, part of Hazelhurst’s ongoing series of projects in the gallery foyer.

The artists selected for this exhibition were based in many different regions from around Australia; rural, remote and urban. Techniques employed by the artists reflected this diversity as did the use of landscape which may originate from a cultural and spiritual attachment to place or an urban sensibility to a changing environment. For others the landscape provided a vehicle for the exploration of self, responses to the historical aspect of landscape and a relationship with nature.

Some artworks were created specifically for the exhibition. James Dodd from South Australia created a new large scale commissioned work, using his signature style combining aerosol and stencilling. Originally a respected street artist using the tag name Dlux, Dodd’s practice is influenced by his travels throughout Australia, where he often collects and documents an archaeology of signs represented in random markings, the anonymous traces of the culture and people particular to place.

Locally based artists in southern Sydney seem instinctively drawn to the landscape and natural environs. Represented in the exhibition were Peter Sharp who expresses the sublime experience of encounters with natural phenomena, Ildiko Kovaks who works intuitively using abstract forms to recreate a sense or memory of place, and Alexander McKenzie whose luminous and evocative paintings employ landscape as metaphor for personal narrative while referencing the techniques of Dutch masters.