Emerging from Darkness

Hamilton Gallery, in the Southern Grampians in Victoria, recently hosted an exhibition titled Emerging from Darkness - Faith, Emotion and the Body in the Baroque. It was a collaboration between Hamilton Gallery, The National Gallery of Victoria, The National Gallery of Australia and private collectors,

bringing together some of the most significant works of European art in Australia.

Although the emphasis was on female artists, Artemesia Gentileschi, Lavinia Fontana and Sofonisba Anguissola, most of the works were from male artists. Obviously it's more difficult to represent women artists when there are not numerous works to choose from, but the quality more than made up for lack of numbers.

The Gentileschi painting, Lucretia, was a standout. The combination of monumental drawing and delicacy of light, fused into a powerful image. Every centimetre rang true. But there were many standouts. These artists knew how to paint and draw but they also understood their materials. So many of the paintings looked as if they were painted a few months ago rather than centuries ago.

The quality of the works made the trip to Hamilton Gallery so worth while, you left with a feeling of satisfaction!

Artemisia Gentileschi - Lucretia, 1630-35, oil on canvas

Sofonisba Anguissola - Portrait of a Prelate, 1556, oil on canvas

Lavinia Fontana - Mystic Marriage of Saint Catherine, 

1574-77, oil on copper

Unknown artist

Carlo Maratti - Studies for the head of Jael, 1686, red chalk

Bernardo Cavallino - The Virgin Annunciate, 1645-50

Rubens - Self Portrait, 1623, oil on canvas

Charles Le Brun - The Entry of Alexander in Babylon, 1700-25, 

after a design of 1688, wool and silk        

Watch This

WATCH THIS is a theatre company that my partner, Deborah Klein, and I are patrons. Modest patrons, but patrons nevertheless. Recently we had a fund raiser for the next production, which is in 2025, but is still a secret at this time. It will be a Stephen Sondheim musical because it's only his musicals that WATCH THIS performs.

It was a fun night, with Nick Simpson-Deeks as MC, not only is he one of the star performers of WATCH THIS but a major talent in Australian musical theatre. His MC duties were hosting a quiz show about things relating to Sondheim and his musicals. Tough questions were mixed with easier ones but it was a testing evening just the same. There were about 10 teams of various numbers and our team ended around the middle of the field so to speak.

Nick Simpson-Deeks designed the screen shot silhouette of Sondheim and also devised what questions we would be asked.

Nick getting the audience into the spirit of the evening.

The Co-Directors of WATCH THIS, Dean Dreiberg and Melanie Hillman

Our team, from left - Phillip, Myself, Deborah Klein and Stephan McLauchlan. In the centre is Sonya Suares, founder of WATCH THIS. What a legacy Sonya has created, a may this wonderful theatre company continue for a long time into the future. Sonya was in a rival team but there was so much merriment and wit, it was like a theatrical event! 

All photos were by Deborah Klein except the last one which I can't recall who took it.

The Music Room

 The Music Room, 2024, oil on linen, 66.3 x 54.3 cm.

I've always loved the portrayal of musical instruments in a painting. Not only are they beautiful to look at, but you know they are conduits for allowing amazing sounds to enter our world. Although it's the composer and the musician who create music, without an instrument nome of this could happen. A musical instrument has a history which adds another point of interest to what is in the painting.

But there is another reason why I did this painting. For over 3 years I did a classical guitar composition course with Daniel Nistico. I attempted to create an image that suggests that music is inspired by the light of our imagination. The light outside, and the musical set up bathed in the light entering the room, hopefully captures something of this idea. 

A Breeze on the Water

A Breeze on the Water, 2024, oil on linen, 45.5 x 40.75 cm

In this painting I tried to suggest a breeze brushing over the water. One of the most interesting aspects of the lake is the variety of patterns that form over the water, and all depending on how the wind behaves. 

The brushstrokes vary also, and imitate what is happening on the surface of the lake. Long strokes for the calmer portions, and pointillist touches where the breeze ruffles the surface. 

This painting took about 8 sittings with very few touches in the studio.
 

Moonrise in the Gloaming

 

Moonrise in the Gloaming, 2024, oil on linen, 56 x 66.25 cm.

This painting originated from a few notations on a piece of paper. The clouds appeared like this only for a few seconds so it was a little frantic trying to capture something of how the sky was at that moment.  Not that I wanted to create a moment in time, it's that when you refer to nature it gives the work a kind of conviction by incorporating fantasy with reality. The painting I ended up with was mostly imagined. It's not a particular place and my aim was to make the sky the most dominant aspect of the painting with a landscape as small as possible but not so small that it disappears from the image. One of the characteristics I like about this work is the abstract quality, expressed through a kind of minimalism. But as always, it's the presence of light and air that I aim to create more so than anything else.

Art and the Occult

This is a fantastic book about the meaning of Art. We've all heard it said many times that no-one knows what art is and therefore it cannot be defined but Art and the Occult considers the qualities that are inherent in great art. For Schwartz the spiritual/occult presence within art is what causes it to be of lasting value, mainly because those same qualities are within human beings. 

I was particularly interested in his discussion about El Greco, Goya, Rembrandt and Ingres. For Schwartz, El Greco reigns supreme because his work is pure spirit in contrast to Goya and Rembrandt whose work is almost on that level but not quite. His 'grading' of Ingres to a much lower level is because he painted primarily the physical body and although it's a living body, the body is the main focus of the work rather than the spirit that animates it. 

He also discusses the Tarrot and other mystical practices but these don't interest me at all. His emphasis is on Art and how artists shaped the history of Art because of their ability to express the spiritual light- energy that animates the world we live in. 

It's an absorbing discussion, whether you agree with Schwartz or not, but much of what he writes makes sense and the way he locates the spiritual behind the medium in art is a very interesting read.

Thunderclap

 

One of the best books on art I've ever read! The title is a reference to the Delft munitions explosion in 1654 that wiped out a significant portion of Delft. One of the victims of the explosion was the artist Carel Fabrituis, the painter of the famous Goldfinch that is hanging in the Maurithuis in the Hague.

The author of the book, Laura Cumming, not only looks at the art of Fabrituis but other artists' works of that time too and offers snippets into their difficult lives as painters.  Her Father and Mother were artists so she grew up in a cultured environment and her writing skills and appreciation of art lead her to the position of art critic for The Observer. But environment doesn't automatically mean art appreciation is a given and it's her innate insights into the paintings she discusses that lights up the text.

I hope she writes another book about those times as it's one of my favourite periods in Art history. 

Self Portrait in a Black Shirt

 

Self Portrait in a Black Shirt, 2024, oil on canvas, 51 x 40.75 cm

This is my latest self portrait which was painted over a number of sittings throughout 2023 and completed early this year. I think it's finished but so often I've got my paintings documented as finished paintings and then I fiddle with them a little more and have to get them photographed again. This portrait was documented a second time because the background was a little too blank and appeared to be static so I added more subtle coloured greenish tones. Hopefully the background has a sufficient, but still subtle, variation to make it interesting and not distract from the face.  

One of the trickiest things about portrait painting is that the human face is not symmetrical so to create a balanced face from asymmetrical parts is a difficult problem. Not many people give this much thought, and why should they anyway, but people are often surprised to learn that one eye is higher than the other. One eyebrow is higher than the other. One eye is more rounded than the other eye which is more egg shaped. One nostril is higher than the other, one side of the mouth is higher than the other. One side of the mouth is wider than the other. One side of the face is wider than the other, and etc. 

The fashion industry knows this truth but it thinks symmetry is the more beautiful, so fashion photographers slice a face vertically and then copy and paste one side as a mirror image of itself to create a perfectly symmetrical human being. Sounds just like the salon painters of the later part of the 19th Century who thought the ideal more beautiful than reality!

Animals in My Art

When I was much younger I always drew horses, mainly racehorses, so perhaps it makes sense that I occasionally paint other animals. One of my favourite paintings of animals is Carel Fabrituis' The Goldfinch (below) which inspired my canary images. As the paintings show, I felt inclined at the time to do a variation on the same animal. Sometimes, one just isn't enough. 

One of the challenges in painting animals is to give them a personality since all animals have their own individuality, which is especially obvious if you have a pet or spend some time around an animal. 

All the paintings were done from actual specimens except the horse, which is based on a photograph. The drypoint was done from the top painting 6 years later.

The Goldfinch, 1654, oil on panel, 33.5 x 22.8 cm

Yellow Canary, 2012, oil on linen, 36 x 36 cm

The Canary, 2012, oil on panel, 17 x 18 cm

Canary 2012, oil on panel, 25 x 30 cm

Canary, 2018, drypoint, 19.5 x 13.25 cm

The Still of the Night, 2016, oil on linen, 35.5 x 41 cm

Night Glow, 2017, oil on panel, 50 x 50 cm

Alice, 2018, drypoint, 19.5 x 11.25 cm

Bird Skull, 2012, oil on panel, 21.75 x 41 cm

Seahorse, 2006, etching, 15 x 8.5 cm

Wunderkammer?

The Wunderkammer, or German for wonder-room, was the 16th Century precursor to the museums we know today. Collections could inhabit a room but also be confined to a cabinet, which lead to its other name as a Cabinet of Curiosities. Wunderkammers were established by people of rank to showcase their place in society or others created by scholars and scientists for study. An entertainment aspect could be present as some of the specimens were not seen by most people and therefore a specimen could have an exotic value because of its rarity. In all cases, the emphasis was on the object itself as deserving of study and appreciation.

My Wunderkammer? work probes something different. We have all heard about the spiritual behind created things, but perceiving the spiritual and observing the material demand different types of vision. As Christ told us, the kingdom of God will not be known through observation, which means there must be another faculty within us to perceive the spiritual behind things. William Blake tells us that there is no such thing as separate body and soul, but rather that they are the same thing. Spinoza tells us that the body and soul are the same thing expressed in two different ways.

This work is a response to the material/spiritual presence we always experience. The question mark of the title is there to question the world of appearances and the colour white was used as an attempt to create a ghost/spiritual object but still be one with its material reality by the thickness of the paint. In this way, two kinds of reality exist at the same time. That is my aim!

The pics below show the Wunderkammer? installation consisting of small paintings and balsa wood models painted with artist's oil prime. I adopted a different palette from what I usually use so for these paintings I used Flake White, Ivory Black, Vermillion and Yellow Ochre. Usually, my choice of colours is white with the three cool primary colours and three warm primary colours - Flake White, Winsor Yellow, Cadmium Yellow Deep, Alizarin Crimson Permanent, Cadmuim Red Deep, French Ultramarine Deep and Cobalt Blue. 

 

Wunderkammer?, 2004

The Christmas Tree

The thing I like most about Christmas is our Christmas Tree. Deborah and I have been gathering Christmas decorations from around the world for decades. We actually have two trees, one is relatively large and the other one is quite small. These pics speak for themselves. Enjoy the sumptuous decorations designed and made by so many throughout the world.