ART SCENE

with Fiona Bateman @fionabatemanart

1Dan Kyle @dan_kyle @edwinacorlettegallery @martinbrownecontemporary It’s as if Dan is part of his forested plot in the Blue Mountains of New South Wales, where he paints gums and paper daisies. There’s endless subject matter in those trees and that land: he could keep painting it forever and we would never tire of it.

2Kiata Mason @kiatamasonart @akbellingergallery Kiata has an enchanting way with colour and scale that makes you feel an intimate part of her work. Her paintings are nostalgic without being sentimental; here she has put all my favourite things together and painted them, as if it was done just for me.

3Robert Malherbe @robert_malherbe @michaelreidsydney @michaelreidberlin @jamesmakingallery A celebration of the human form, Robert’s strong colours and cropped positions combined with tender skin tones are always an absolute joy to behold. A Malherbe nude has such presence that it could be hanging among a hundred other paintings and your eyes would always go straight to it.

4Nicole Kelly @nk_nk_ @arthousegallery I adore this painting, part of a series made during isolation. Nicole says, ‘These new works are a direct observation of my own familiar and private domestic space, and a search for stability, in unfamiliar times. They consider the unexpected stillness and the experience of a deeper connection with that which we are surrounded by.’

Artworks Dan Kyle After the Burn 2019 oil and mixed media on board 120 x 120 cm; Kiata Mason Gardener’s Table 2019 acrylic on canvas 95 x 95 cm; Robert Malherbe DS 16 2020 oil on linen 72 x 72 cm; Nicole Kelly Kitchen sink (portrait of isolation) 2020 oil on polyester 53 x 48 cm.

5Evelyn Malgil @warmunart @galeriepompom Evelyn Malgil is a traditional owner for Winniper Springs in the Kimberley, who paints her Country. That streak of deep blue, the pebbly shapes and the bright colours are joyful, but this work was exhibited as part of Between the Fence and Freedom, suggesting the undercurrent of discontent.

6Gemma King @oldbob.originals @walchagallery Gemma uses a reduction linocut process where more is carved out of the block with each layer. One morning in Walcha it was so smoky that Gemma King had to rest her eyes after moving a mob of sheep through the scrub. When she opened them again an ocean of smoke had hidden the anthill that was close by. It was a beautiful vision but one she hopes to never see again.

7Samuel Miller @ninuku_arts @yaamaganugallery Samuel Miller was born at Ernabella Mission and now resides in the Kalka Community, South Australia. Miller’s paintings depict the traditional iconography of his Country using mesmerising and varied colour, largely drawn from the radiant colours in the landscape that surrounds Kalka. I can’t wait to see Miller’s new show at Yaama Ganu Gallery, Moree, early in 2021.

8Eleanor Louise Butt @eleanor_louise_butt @nicholasthompsongallery Abstraction in Mustard and White was painted while in residency at Porthmeor Studios in St Ives, UK. Butt wrote, ‘The rough winter ocean smashed against towering granite cliffs and reverberated through my legs and into my body. I hadn’t imagined that I could be inspired by landscape in a way that wasn’t visual.’

Artworks Evelyn Malgil Winniper Springs 2015 #1 acrylic on canvas 100 x 140 cm; Gemma King Anthill in Smoke II 2020 linocut on fabriano 25 x 25 cm; Samuel Miller King Untitled 2019 acrylic on canvas 91 x 91 cm; Eleanor Louise Butt Abstraction in mustard and white 2019 oil on cotton 47 x 42 cm.