I must trust - @ Kings ARI (Nov/Dec 2012)

A simple painting installation in the project space at Kings Artist Run Initiative (November - December 2012). 

Painted directly onto the declining roof, then door, and then floor of a space underneath a staircase. 

Gratitude extended to Anabelle Lacroix (for the invitation to show), Madé and Lyndal, and dear Lucia.

These photos are not perfectly stitched, there is overlap, yet the order here is a pan from the top of the roof down to the floor.

I must trust.

I must trust for, though swimming in beauty and truth, I feel like I am drowning for lack of them. 

I must trust that I am not in a world of chaos.  I must trust that truth can be tasted.  I must trust that beauty transcends aesthetic titillation.

May but a glimmer of Thy Light, which is greater than that of a million suns, creep through my closed eyelids.  Then shall my heart be eased, yet indeed greater shall the longing be for the fullness of Thy Light.

Until, then, my eyes open wide, I must trust.

Untitled, 2012

Untitled, 2012
Oil and pencil on linen, 122 x 87 cm

It was a finalist in the 2012 City of Swan Contemporary Art Awards, at the Midland Junction Arts Centre in Western Australia.

This is on a piece of primed linen that I had purchased 8 years ago, but had never got around to stretching. The kind people at St Luke Artist Colourmen did this for me earlier this year, and the painting finally began.

Originally this work was going to be entered in the City of Davenport Art Award, which was themed as the sea, yet I didn't quite make the deadline. Progress slowed, I was thus able to enjoy the gradual revelation a little more. 

And here are some of the progress pics:

A Pillar of Cloud by day

My entry for the 2012 Blake Prize, the main prize for art that focuses upon religion and spirituality.  My painted work had as its subject the Pillar of Cloud by day, God's presence to the Israelites when leading them out of Egypt and whilst they were in the desert. 

"The Lord preceded them, by day in a pillar of cloud to show them the way, and by night in a pillar of fire to give them light, so they could march by day and by night."  Exodus 13:21

"Anyone who wanted to consult the Lord would go out to the Tent of Meeting, outside the camp.  Whenever Moses went out to the Tent, the people would all stand up and every man would stand at the door of his tent and watch Moses until he went into the Tent. And whenever Moses went into the Tent, the pillar of cloud would come down and station itself at the entrance to the Tent, while the Lord spoke with Moses.  The people could all see the pillar of cloud stationed at the entrance to the Tent and the people would all stand up and bow low, each at the door of his tent.  

The Lord would talk to Moses face to face, as a man talks to his friend, and afterwards he would come back to the camp, but the young man who was his servant, Joshua son of Nun, never left the inside of the Tent."  Exodus 33:7-11

The painting, A Pillar of Cloud by day, thus references both God’s powerful guiding presence of the Israelites in the desert, and God's continued revelation through created beauty (in this case, the beauty evident in the painting).  

A Pillar of Cloud by day, 2012

Watercolour and pencil on paper, 140 x 210 cm

A Gateway

A Gateway, 2011-2012

Acrylic and pencil on paper, 340 x 280cm

Here, from start to finish, is the development of A Gateway.  The idea for this work was in my head and heart for about three or four years, in fact for the walls of Seventh Gallery, where it ended up being installed.  Two pieces of 3.4x1.4m Fabriano hotpress watercolour paper. 

Thanks to Iolanthe Iezzi for help installing, all at Seventh Gallery, and Callum Watson and Alexander Ouchtomsky for the wonderful show we got together, To Share and to Hopefully Understand, Seventh Gallery, March/April 2012. 

First Publication Appearance: sharing about art and heart

First publication appearance regarding my art!

Kairos Catholic Journal, Vol. 23, No. 9

Have a read if you have the chance.

For the full Journal, and probably an easier way to read the text of this article go to:
Kairos Catholic Journal, Vol.23, No.9

A Gift (Cool, United, Warm)

These are a series of three works completed for a shared exhibition with Yuria Okamura, Stillness in Silence: Shapes in Space, at Red Gallery in North Fitzroy, June 2012. 

A Gift (Cool), 2011

Oil on Canvas, 152x91cm

A Gift (United), 2011

Oil on canvas, 152x61cm

A Gift (Warm), 2011

Oil on canvas, 152x91cm

Progress pics: