Painting

I’ve always wanted to paint, including wanting my photography to be painterly. In 2012 I took up brushes and started. Other than an extremely helpful one week painting class at National Art School (Sydney) in 2015, I am self taught.

I don’t intend to say much on my painting other than about the McElhone Fish Pond images. This beautiful pond, located in McElhone Park, Elizabeth Bay, used to have an abundance of large koi (fish) some being up to 40 years old. It became the subject of some of my earliest paintings then one day I realized the fish were gone. They’d been stolen, possibly each fish being sold for $1,500. These stolen fish or stolen landscape, are the subject of some paintings.

Painters who I greatly admire and draw inspiration from are; Wassily Kandinsky, Maki Na Kamura, Miriam Cahn, Mark Rothko, Camille Henrot, Cy Twombly and Per Kirkeby.

Photography

My photography work is experimental, drawing inspiration from painters as much as photographers, with my early work and experimentation being inspired by the Japanese photographer Hiroshi Sugimoto. A painter of early influence is Marcel Duchamp.

I studied photography at Australian Centre for Photography in Sydney, from 2002 – 2006 and have also participated in a number of workshops at Toscana Photography Workshops.

Water: “Archimedes Mirrors” is inspired by the legend of Archimedes defeating the Greek invasion of Syracuse Sicily, by using mirrors to reflect the sun’s rays on the Greek’s timber boats setting them alight. My images are intended to show the strength of the mirror, not only does it reflect it also takes aspects of the landscape and makes them stronger. Other times it shows something you may not have otherwise seen or blinds you from seeing.

These works are comprised of images taken in Syracuse in 2016 and are the first in water themed works I plan to do.

Light Leaving Trees In Winter: One late winter afternoon in Paris 2010, I saw stark leafless trees so devoid of light they were almost without colour. It then took me close to 2 years before I developed this theme. If you can imagine the playful daylight romance between light and trees, the dancing of light on the limbs of the trees. Then lingering sadness each day as light must leave the trees, the reluctance of departure, clinging to the quickly cooling limbs. Not knowing that light will return the next day with no memory of what has gone before or of what lies ahead. Playfulness is in the moment.

Each image in this series is a composite of multiple tree photographs and earlier shots of old concrete walls taken around 2003 which I’ve digitally painted. I hope the images convey the last moments as light departs from trees on a colourless winter afternoon.

An edition of 5. Images #1 – 8 & 10 – 12 are 900 x 600 mm plus a 100 mm border and image #9 is 1000 x 1000 mm plus a 100 mm border.

Hidden: Women are unseen, hidden from many aspects of life globally for religious, cultural or social reasons; men dominate public life. This series taken in Fez, Morocco in 2010, portrays this exclusion.

An edition of 5, printed on textured fine art paper with a white border around the image to allow for framing. All images other than “Laundry”, “Door to Roof” and “Doorway” are 750 x 500 mm plus a 100 mm border (950 x 700 mm). “Laundry”, “Door to Roof” and “Doorway” are 500 x 335 mm plus a 100 mm border (700 x 535).

Port Botany 2010: Port Botany is an industrial cargo port in Sydney, close to Sydney airport. When I photographed this site in early 2010 there were huge concrete structures of alien appearance rising up out of the harbour. Their function was not apparent and they have now been removed. Maybe they had a temporary support function in a land reclaimation process otherwise their appearance was incomprehensible, inexplicable, mystical.

Printed on textured fine art paper with a white border around the image to allow for framing. Medium print (edition of 10) image size 500 x 335 mm or 600 x 300 mm (see image ratio), print size 700 x 540 mm or 800 x 500 mm. Large print (edition of 5) image size 750 x 500 mm or 800 x 400 mm (see image ratio), print size 950 x 700 mm or 1000 x 600 mm.

Transylvania – Faded House: I visited a number of small villages in Transylvania in May 2009 and January / February 2010 where I was struck by two aspects of the region. The first was the people, particularly the Roma (gypsies), their houses, living conditions and environment. The other was the wealth of old religious art inside imposing and impressive churches, most having seen significantly better days thus adding to the appeal. My work blends together multiple images of people, religious art, icons and the environment. I wanted to create a harsh juxtaposition questioning the relevance of religion and what it does for people on an every day basis.

I also created a short video form my visit in February 2010 incorporating some of the images from this series: see YouTube – Transylvannia – Faded House.

Printed on textured fine art paper with a white border around the image to allow for framing. Medium print (edition of 10) image size 500 x 335 mm, print size 700 x 540 mm. Large print (edition of 5) image size 750 x 500 cm, print size 950 x 700 mm.

St Anna – Tuscany: This work is created from composite images taken at the beautiful 15th century monastery Sant’Anna in Camprena, Tuscany in 2008. Inspired by the age of the monastery, the lives and events that must have existed and occurred over the centuries, I wanted to portray a sense of something which has happened but is now lost. I also wanted to suggest that although events may be lost, an intangible essence has been left behind and remains within the monastery.

Printed on textured fine art paper with a white border around the image to allow for framing. Medium print (edition of 10) image size 750 x 500 mm, print size 950 x 700 mm. Large print (edition of 5) image size 1350 x 900 mm, print size 1550 x 1100 mm.

Landscape: I am simply trying to convey an intangible impression of a watercolour landscape with this work which I commenced in January 2010.

Printed on textured fine art paper with a white border around the image to allow for framing. Medium print (edition of 10) image size 500 x 335 mm or 600 x 300 mm (see image ratio), print size 700 x 540 mm or 800 x 500 mm. Large print (edition of 5) image size 750 x 500 mm or 800 x 400 mm (see image ratio), print size 950 x 700 mm or 1000 x 600 mm.

Urban 1 & 2: Set in a numerous urban locations, these works were created from 2004 onwards using a variety of means to suggest impermanence, the ethereal and fleeting nature of life. Rather than immortalise the moment as much photgraphy does, many of these works seek to express the mortality of the moment. My methods include multiple exposure with a hand held camera, slow film with a slow shutter speed in low light, and the blending of multiple images.

These works are various sizes (up to 1650 mm largest dimension) and some comprise a number of parts. They are printed on differing artist quality papers and presented on mediums including directly mounted on diasec (similar to perspex), mounted on a backing board or traditional framing. Each has an edition of 10.

Prints: All works come with a signed certificate of authenticity, pricing and further finishing details provided on request.

Exhibitions

May 2011 – Joint exhibition with 2 other photographers at Sara Roney Gallery, Paddington, Sydney, Australia.

July 2009 – Photography Expo at Sara Roney Gallery, Paddington, Sydney, Australia.

June 2009 – Group exhibition at Blank Space Gallery, Surry Hills, Sydney, Australia.

August 2007 – Solo exhibition at Blank Space Gallery, Surry Hills, Sydney, Australia.

July – August 2006 – Exhibition with painter Amanda Johnson, during the Wellington Film Festival at Paramount Theatre, Wellington, New Zealand.