Passage New Paintings by Andrew McIlroy April/May 2021
A SELLING EXHIBITION
Passage New Paintings by Andrew McIlroy
A SELLING EXHIBITION
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Since the European settlement of Tasmania over 200 years ago, shipwrecks have been an unfortunate aspect of its history. The island’s treacherous waters are unforgiving and unpredictable. Perilous reefs and jagged rocks sit beneath the ocean’s surface, claiming many thousands of lives. Seafarers, settlers, convicts and their jailers, scientists, and explorers chancing the harsh elements aboard stout looking, crammed wooden sailing ships, set south with only a vague notion of what they may find. Indigenous peoples too perished on these seas. They all sailed on the wind, hoping for safe passage. Today, we can but reflect on the perils they faced, where the imminent threat of death and the acceptance of loss became a part of everyday life. But then as now these exist as a fundamental part of our human condition, inescapably bringing change – the possibility of seeing the world anew.
After travelling to Tasmania for over 20 years, I now keep a house there. I like that the island’s slower pace makes the mind less dominant and allows the heart to emerge, to better take in my environment to witness the discernable changes in weather and in the surrounding landscape from season to season, from year to year. So when in the course of things we turn to view our landscape, its coasts and mountains buffeted by the vicissitudes of weather, we see it often with both a sense of awe and with a sense of loss and aching – in a way, a final coming to terms with our own mortality. Such is the passage we all must take. I bring these threads together in this collection of paintings. The imagery is intended to provoke the viewer – as all art should – inviting you to pause, to stare into the landscape, and to reflect on your own experience in facing adversity and loss, in a place as beautifully familiar as it is brutally remote. Andrew McIlroy Melbourne April, 2021
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Artist Statement
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Andrew McIlroy My paintings are the result of tremendous bursts of energy, often leaving me at day’s end, tired and sore. The results though are evocative, sensory visions. Painted in strong saturated tones, they portray expressive landscapes, as much of the mind as they are of the physical world. And here, there is something deeper going on. In their composition and palette, the paintings capture my mood, imbued with a strong sense of emotion, of power, illuminating the ever-present forces of nature. In the isolation of my studio I immerse myself in these imagined landscapes. These elicitations have their basis in reality, referencing plein air studies, but are more produced from a memory. They remain deeply sensual works, at times heightened with
imagery of unsettling experiences, shipwrecks and near drowning, storms and scorching fires, decay and loss – capturing the both destructive force of our natural environment and its ability to redeem itself. My paintings are for me deeply personal; posing a metaphor for the fears and anxieties that gripped me as a child. Today in my studio, I cannot help but act these feelings out and onto my canvas. It’s a safe place, I guess – a solitary place. I know I am not alone in these life experiences so I hope to emotionally engage, confront and connect with the viewer, using shared experiences and often familiar Romantic themes and imagery. Melbourne, 2021
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ANDREW McILROY
Flinders Island, late afternoon oil in linen 112 x 122 cm $14,000
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ANDREW McILROY
Storm Bay, South Arm Peninsula oil on linen 112 x 122 cm $14,000
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ANDREW McILROY
Breaking light along the shore oil on linen 112 x 122 cm $14,000
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ANDREW McILROY
Early light, Derwent River oil on linen 118 x 130 cm $15,000
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ANDREW McILROY
Mouth of Northeast River oil on linen 122 x 137 cm $16,000
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ANDREW McILROY
Early morning, Huon River oil on linen 122 x 137 cm $16,000
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ANDREW McILROY
A treacherous coast in storm oil on linen 122 x 137 cm $16,000
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ANDREW McILROY
Passage: Sunrise at Trousers Point oil on linen 137 x 168 cm $18,000
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ANDREW McILROY
Passage: Late morning, Birches Inlet oil on linen 137 x 168 cm $18,000
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ANDREW McILROY
Looking towards Mount Pegasus oil on linen 122 x 137 cm $16,000
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ANDREW McILROY
Storm over Trousers Point oil on board 51 x 61 cm $3,000
409 Malvern Road South Yarra Victoria 3141 www.artivsory.com.au