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:: Biography :: | Featured Works
Well, there I was, sitting on ‘the bench’, at Noosa main beach, taking in
the immense beauty of the panorama before me. I was born in the tropics, so when I came to
Noosa, it was like coming home in terms of the weather and landscape, but I digress.
Sitting there and appreciating the beauty brought a new challenge to me.
How do I depict all this beauty in front of me in a way that satisfies me? I had become
frustrated with the single fixed head window depiction of the landscape. There was much
more to be seen. I recalled the technique David Hockney had used in his work
‘Pearblossom Highway’. That work gave me information of the scene that would not
be available in the fixed single window framing depiction.
He took me on a journey through the landscape. I was there, I could explore all he had
seen, including the details he wanted me to see. His work set me of on a journey of
possibilities and discovery.
One of my first works ‘Boardwalk’ takes a slice of the landscape looking
directly above my head down to my feet. In fact an early version of the work included my
feet. This work takes you simply from a single to multi perspective view. A new and
satisfying world of representing the three dimensional world in two dimensions opened up
for me. In doing the work, I have begun to get a greater appreciation and understanding of
Cubism, that is, how do you depict your subject from multiple viewpoints.
The work I do mimics the way in which we view the world. When we look at a scene, we very
rarely fix our heads in one position. Our eyes roam around the scene, noticing specific
details as well as the ‘bigger picture’. Your eye also generally stays in focus
throughout the experience. The technique I use allows me to do this. For example in
‘Cathedral with picnic’ you can see the detail in, the picnic wrapper at you
feet, the surface of the rock face and the Cathedral.
Since I am visually curious about my world, I have found this a satisfying way of
expressing of how I see the world. The idea that the world should be looked at, as through
a window is quite restrictive in my view. Art students are often instructed to cut out a
frame and use it to compose a view. The frame then becomes the fixed boundaries of the
work.
A lot of people work from photographs in their depictions, which reinforces the idea of
the window. Ironically I am now using the camera as my paintbrush. Although my work is on
rectangular canvas, the boundaries are all over the place. I prefer to let the work find
its own boundaries. It also helps in moving away from the fixed window concept.
The multi perspective idea broadens how we see and depict the world and there is a lot to
discover. Maybe the world needs a multi perspective view of all things instead of the
“my way or the highway approach”. There are many ways in which we can
‘see’ the same thing and in doing so find a multi faceted understanding.
May peace and love be in your life.
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