Plimsoll Gallery
Centre for the Arts
Hunter Street, Hobart
Wally Barda, Virginia Coventry, Adrian Hall, Old Mick Tjakamarra, Ronnie Tjampitjinpa, Don Tjungurrayi, and Dick Pantimatu Tjupurrula.
Introductions: Paul Zika and Andrew Crocker, Essay: Dismas M Zika.
6-page catalogue
Download PDF: Landscape Catalogue
Download PDF: Landscape, The Mercury
INTRODUCTION
Landscape is a dominant theme within the visual arts and this exhibition seeks to reflect some interpretations of that theme. In any review of attitudes to landscape, those of the Australian aboriginals must he included. In aboriginal culture, spiritual and physical aspects of the land are inextricably intermingled. This inseparable inter-relation, and the aboriginal feeling of belonging with nature, exist in the paintings from Papunya, even though it may not be immediately evident to us. It was planned to have two Aboriginal artists working here on sand paintings as part of this exhibition, to provide a wider appreciation of the art of the Western Desert: unfortunately that wasn’t possible. Preconceptions and stylistic conventions abound within ‘Landscape’ art. The artists within this exhibition ’employ a range of traditional mediums, and yet their usage doesn’t become a convention within itself. In fact, the works on canvas from the Western Desert do not employ ‘traditional’ materials – those are sand and other collected elements. The use of acrylic on canvas reflects an adjustment to new circumstances yet retains the dynamic of the earlier form. Hopefully their conclusions will question and expand our attitude to the land. Paul Zika – Exhibition Co-ordinator