Chris Langlois - Glasshouse Regional Gallery catalogue - Nov 2015 - Jan 2016

Chris Langlois

Chris Langlois 20 November 2015 – 17 January 2016

Weather System (Tasman Sea) no.38, 2015, oil on linen, 153x168cm

Foreword It is with great pleasure that the Glasshouse Regional Gallery presents this exhibition of recent work by renowned Australian artist Chris Langlois. The exhibition continues the Glasshouse Regional Gallery’s commitment to supporting contemporary Australian artists and presenting quality artistic experiences for our community.

For many years the Glasshouse Regional Gallery has admired the work of Chris Langlois and has been inspired by the epic cinematic quality of his paintings. Time and time again Langlois captures the spell-binding beauty of the landscape, his poetic approach evokes a mesmerising sense of place and inspires an emotional response.

In this exhibition Langlois presents a selection of new work that celebrates his connection to the natural environment and examines the sublime grandeur of the Australian landscape. Langlois explore his relationship to place rather than purely recording the scene, and there is a sublime beauty in the stillness captured by his work.

Langlois captures the dramatic tension embodied in the ever-changing expansive sky. One can almost feel the dense, cold misty air, or the warmth of sunlight on the skin, as light shifts slowly with the movement of the clouds, the world almost stops for a moment – a moment that is all too familiar, like a distant memory.

I would like to sincerely thank Chris Langlois for sharing this breathtaking body of work. It has been a pleasure to work with Chris to develop this exhibition and the accompanying catalogue. I would like to thank Louise Martin Chew for her poetic essay that provides a delightful insight into Langlois’ practice and the staff at Olsen Irwin Gallery and Gould Galleries for their generous support which has made this exhibition possible.

Niomi Sands Curator Glasshouse Regional Gallery

Chris Langlois This exhibition of recent work by Chris Langlois was selected by

capture the changeability of the light with a sense of place that is less

Glasshouse curator Niomi Sands for its connection to “water landscape

particular than universal.

and memory which examines the sublime and grandeur of the Australian waterscape”. Langlois has lived in New South Wales since childhood and his work responds to the landscape without seeking to evoke particular sites, more of than about place. It is the qualities that the vast Australian spaces conjure in our personal and post-colonial imagination, the limitless beyond the horizon line and their associations into the unknown, that drive his work.

Chris Langlois creates paintings that take us into the natural world of sky, sea and cloud, drifting toward and beyond the horizon. At the same time, however, they offer an internal dialogue, into existential territory, with images that speak to this moment, to memory, and to the infinite.

The survey of nineteen works is primarily of seascapes, in muted colours, all of which are anchored by the horizon. He described this particular group as “a narrative of landscape and sky”. While mostly from his Weather System series (2014-2015), the exhibition includes a single example from the earlier Narrabeen Lake landscapes (2009), and this painting melds seamlessly into the sea- and cloudscapes with its shared atmospheric. Photographic prints, three of the four from the series Darkwood (2012), also describe his ongoing interest in liberating photography from its role as a part of his painting process into a medium in its own right.

The Darkwood images are remote from photography, transformed into

Their power is in this duality, an ability to harness the beauty of the

atmospheric vignettes through Langlois’s print-making processes, and

physical world, and to create a window into the psyche. They also

developing a misty, gothic sensibility as a result. In creating photographic

prints his interest lies in taking them “somewhere else, to eliminate the

noted, “The terror engendered when human existence is threatened by

aesthetic of both the photograph, and their monolithic element”. They

forces beyond its control or comprehension is the dynamo, therefore,

are concerned with qualities of abstraction and, in the Darkwood series,

of the sublime aesthetic.” While during earlier centuries the sublime

shapes emerge over time, with their muted and watery backgrounds

was concerned with a human imaginative retreat from the power of

offering up depths of shape and tone that speak to shadowy spaces in

nature, Langlois takes the view that, in our time, humanity may effect

the human imagination.

the natural world, albeit not always in a manner either planned or

While the paintings are clearly drawn from his own environmental

desirable.

memory, Langlois reaches beyond this toward the notion of the

Accordingly, Langlois has focussed on cloud and weather patterns. The

sublime. “I look for landscapes that are devoid of people, empty of

haunting quality of the polluted and barren Narrabeen Lakes allowed him

elements of civilisation. Human activity changes the imagery, and may

to harness images of environmental crises that are observed in broader

bring in nostalgia – I try to avoid that.”

geographical and elementary forms. He suggested, “Romanticism in

Yet both Langlois’ Narrabeen Lakes series and his Weather System

our time is the opposite of where it began”.

paintings draw on the postmodern concept of the sublime and

The current exhibition, with its muted colours and ongoing interest in

the consequences of human impact on the environment with their

infinite spaces, sees a heightened compression of the picture plane

associated fears. Writing about the contemporary sublime, Whyte

and a constant horizon line ties the paintings together.

Louise Martin Chew

Weather System (Mundi Mundi) no.1, 2014, oil on linen, 153x213cm

Weather System (Mundi Mundi) no.2, 2014, oil on linen, 153x259cm

Weather System (Tasman Sea) no.30, 2015, oil on linen, 122x137cm

Weather System (Tasman Sea) no.42, 2015, oil on linen, 137x153cm

Weather System (Tasman Sea) no.34, 2015, oil on linen, 137x122cm

Weather System (Tasman Sea) no.35, 2015, oil on linen, 122x137cm

Weather System (Tasman Sea) no.37, 2015, oil on linen, 168x183cm

Weather System (Tasman Sea) no.41, 2015, oil on linen, 137x122cm

Weather System (Tasman Sea) no.19, 2015, oil on linen, 168x183cm

Weather System (St. Vincents Gulf) no.43, 2015, oil on linen, 168x183cm

Weather System (Tasman Sea) no.36, 2015, oil on linen, 137x122cm

Weather System (Dawn) no.1, 2015, oil on linen, 137x122cm

Darkwood no.23, 2012, digital pigment print on cotton rag, 83x72cm

Darkwood no.25, 2012, digital pigment print on cotton rag, 83x72cm

Darkwood no.24, 2012, digital pigment print on cotton rag, 83x72cm

Sketch (Middle Creek) no.2, 2010, oil on board, 13x25cm

Sketch (Sugar Loaf Creek) no.1, 2009, oil on board, 18x27cm

Landscape (Narrabeen Lake) no.3, 2009, oil on linen, 122x213cm

Sketch (Vacy) no.4, 2011, oil on board, 14x23cm

Sketch (Kerry) no.3, 2013, oil on board, 16x32cm

Sketch (Tabooba) no.1, 2013, oil on board, 16x28cm

Sketch (Barrier Range) no.6, 2014, oil on board, 16x30cm

Sketch (Turimetta Head) no.4, 2013, oil on board, 24x50cm

Sketch (Capel Hill) no.1, 2014, oil on board, 16x30cm

Sketch (Mt Neglected) no.3, 2013, oil on board, 32x44cm

Sketch (Barrier Range) no.3, 2014, oil on board, 16x30cm

List of works Paintings

Sketches

Landscape (Narrabeen Lake) no.3

2009

oil on linen

122x213cm*

Sketch (Barrier Range) no.3

2014

oil on board

16x30cm

Weather System (St Vincents Gulf) no.43

2015

oil on linen

168x183cm

Sketch (Barrier Range) no.6

2014

oil on board

16x30cm

Weather System (Tasman Sea) no.19

2015

oil on linen

167x183cm

Sketch (Capel Hill) no.1

2014

oil on board

16x30cm

Weather System (Tasman Sea) no.30

2015

oil on linen

122x137cm

Sketch (Goobarragandra River) no.2

2014

oil on board

21x29cm

Weather System (Tasman Sea) no.34

2015

oil on linen

137x122cm

Sketch (Kerry) no.3

2013

oil on board

16x32cm

Weather System (Tasman Sea) no.35

2015

oil on linen

122x137cm

Weather System (Tasman Sea) no.36

2015

oil on linen

137x122cm

Sketch (Middle Creek) no.2

2010

oil on board

13x25cm

Weather System (Tasman Sea) no.37

2015

oil on linen

168x183cm

Sketch (Neglected Mt) no.3

2013

oil on board

32x44cm

Weather System (Tasman Sea) no.38

2015

oil on linen

153x168cm

Sketch (Pumicestone Channel) no.1

2009

oil on board

20x27cm

Weather System (Tasman Sea) no.39

2015

oil on linen

122x137cm

Sketch (Skirmish Point) no.5

2009

oil on board

17x28cm

Weather System (Tasman Sea) no.41

2015

oil on linen

137x122cm

Sketch (Sugar Loaf Creek) no.1

2009

oil on board

18x27cm

Weather System (Tasman Sea) no.42

2015

oil on linen

137x153cm

Sketch (Tabooba) no.1

2013

oil on board

16x28cm

Weather Systems (Mundi Mundi) no.1

2014

oil on linen

153x213cm

Sketch (Tumutriver) no.1

2014

oil on board

23x29cm

Weather Systems (Mundi Mundi) no.2

2014

oil on linen

153x259cm

Sketch (Turimetta Head) no.4

2013

oil on board

24x50cm

Weather System (Dawn) no.1

2015

oil on linen

137x122cm

Sketch (Vacy) no.4

2011

oil on board

14x23cm

Digital Darkwood no.23

All works courtesy of the artist and Olsen Irwin Gallery, Sydney and Gould Galleries Melbourne, unless otherwise stated. *Port Macquarie-Hastings Council, donated through the Australian Government’s Cultural Gifts Program by the artist, 2012.

2012

digital pigment print on cotton rag

83x72cm

Darkwood no.25

2012

digital pigment print on cotton rag

83x72cm

Darkwood no.24

2012

digital pigment print on cotton rag

83x72cm

Waterfield no.12

2012

digital pigment print on cotton rag

83x72cm

CHRIS LANGLOIS Born 1969. Lives and works in Sydney

Education 1990 BA Visual Arts (painting and drawing), The University

of Newcastle

Solo Exhibitions 2015 Chris Langlois, Glasshouse Regional Gallery,

Port Macquarie

On the Nature of Air and Light, Gould Galleries, Melbourne 2014

Chris Langlois Points in Time, Manly Art Gallery and Museum and Gippsland Art Gallery Touring Exhibition, Gippsland Art Gallery, Hamilton Art Gallery, Lake Macquarie City Art Gallery, Gold Coast City Gallery, Orange Regional Gallery.

Weather Systems, OlsenIrwin, Sydney

2013 Chris Langlois Points in Time, Manly Art Gallery and

Museum and Gippsland Art Gallery Touring Exhibition

Close Space, Gould Galleries, Melbourne

Sketches, Heiser Gallery, Brisbane

2012 Waterfield, Rex Irwin Art Dealer, Sydney 2011 Another Place, Gould Galleries, Melbourne

Darkwood, Heiser Gallery, Brisbane

2010 Quietude, Rex Irwin Art Dealer, Sydney 2009 Heiser Gallery, Brisbane

Michael Reid, Murrurundi

2008 Rex Irwin Art Dealer, Sydney 2007 Rex Irwin Art Dealer, Sydney

Moree Plains Art Gallery, Moree

2006 Winter Weather, Martin Browne Fine Art at Silvershot

Gallery, Melbourne 2005 Landscape Variations, Martin Browne Fine Art at the

Yellow House, Sydney 2004 Vanishing Point, Martin Browne Fine Art at the Yellow

House, Sydney

Variations, Martin Browne Fine Art at Fortyfivedownstairs, Melbourne 2003 Half light, Martin Browne Fine Art, Sydney 2002 Everything and Nothing, Chris Langlois’ Landscape

Paintings, Newcastle Region Art Gallery

Imperfect Isolation, Doggett Street Studios, Brisbane

2001 Land sea sky, Metro Arts, Brisbane

Fading to Nought, Martin Brown Fine Art, Sydney

Nick Mitzevitch Gallery, Newcastle

2000 Melancholy, Legge Gallery, Sydney 1999 A Point In Time, Legge Gallery, Sydney 1998 Landscape and Memory, Legge Gallery, Sydney 1997 Autumn Park, Legge Gallery, Sydney 1996 Detached Shadows, Legge Gallery, Sydney

Rocket Gallery, Newcastle

1995 Legge Gallery, Sydney 1994 Legge Gallery, Sydney 1993 Newcastle Region Art Gallery

Legge Gallery, Sydney

1992 Legge Gallery, Sydney 1991 View Factory, Newcastle 1990 Watt Space, The University of Newcastle

Selected Group Exhibitions 2015 Signature, Newcastle University

Keeping Company: Saltwater, Manly Art Gallery and Museum

Directors Choice 2015, Celebrating 35 years, Gould Galleries, Melbourne

2014 The Gold Award, Rockhampton Art Gallery, Rockhampton, Queensland

Sublime Points, Hazelhurst Regional Gallery & Arts Centre

John Leslie Art Prize, Gippsland Art Gallery, Sale Victoria

Tattersalls Landscape Art Prize, Brisbane

Watt Space 25th Year Anniversary, Watt Space, The University of Newcastle

2013 Summer Show, Chris LANGLOIS, Hyojin PARK, KONSTANTIN

BESSMERTNY, LIU XiaoFang, Amelia Johnson Contemporary,

Hong Kong

2013 Fleurieu Art Prize, South Australia

Tattersall’s Club Landscape Art Prize, Brisbane

2012 Within Sight of Land, Newcastle Art Gallery

Landscape + the Urbane Environment, Marian Drew, Koon Wai Bong, Chris Langlois, Ho-Yeol Ryu, Davis Smith, Amelia Johnson Contemporary, Hong Kong

Directors Choice 2012, Gould Galleries, Melbourne

2005 The Sea, Rex Irwin Art Dealer, Sydney.

Reflective Dialogues, Chris Capper, Andy Divine, Chris Langlois, Peter Tilley, The University Gallery, Newcastle University, Newcastle

2004 Great Escapes: romantic landscape in the 21st century, curated by Meryl Ryan, Lake Macquarie City

Art Gallery

Winter Warmers, Gould Galleries, Melbourne

Kings School Art Prize, Sydney

Tattersalls Landscape Art Prize, Brisbane

2011 Water Memory, Glasshouse Regional Gallery,

Port Macquarie

Stan & Maureen Duke Gold Coast Art Prize, Gold Coast Art Gallery

New Romantics, Gippsland Art Gallery, Sale

Black & White, Rex Irwin Art Dealer, Sydney

Tattersall’s Club Landscape Art Prize, Brisbane

Kings Art Prize, Sydney

Keeping Company Manly Art Gallery and Museum, Sydney

Allsorts Gould Galleries, Melboune

Salon Des Refuses, S.H Irvin Gallery, Syd

BIG/small, Rex Irwin Art Dealer, Sydney

30 to collect, Arthouse Gallery, Sydney

2010 Wynne Prize, Art Gallery of New South Wales

Silent Spaces, Macquarie University Art Gallery, Sydney

Zoo Artists in Residence, The University Gallery, The University of Newcastle

2009 In Paradise: Artist of the Northern Beaches, Manly Arts

Festival, Manly Art Gallery and Museum

Heads, Rex Irwin Art Dealer, Sydney

2008 Chris Langlois, Luke Pither, Paul Spencer, and

Camilla Tadich, Sophie Gannon Gallery, Melbourne

Painting the Land, Newcastle Region Art Gallery, Newcastle

Salon des Refuses, S.H. Irvin Gallery, Sydney

Salon des Refuses, Tweed River Art Gallery, Murwillumbah

2007 The University Collection: Evolution, Newcastle

University Gallery, Newcastle

Wynne Prize, Art Gallery of New South Wales

2006 Tainted Love, Contemporary developments in Landscape,

Bendigo Art Gallery

Wynne Prize, Art Gallery of New South Wales

State of Art: Peace, touring exhibition, curated by Katherine Roberts, Manly Art Gallery

2003 Depth of Field, curated by Karen Hall & Louise Tegart,

Shepparton Regional Art Gallery

Depth of Field, Monash University Museum of Art

2001 Volunteered Images, Campbelltown City Bicentennial

Art Gallery

Horizon, Newcastle Art Gallery

Well Connected: Dobell + Company, Lake Macquarie City Art Gallery

New Aquisitions, Campbelltown City Bicentennial Art Gallery

University of Newcastle Art Collection, Recent Acquisitions, The University of Newcastle

2000 Watt Decade, The University of Newcastle Travelling

Exhibition, Broken Hill Regional Art Gallery 1999 Contemporary, a selection from the collection of Allen,

Allen and Hemsley UTS Gallery, Sydney

Velocity, Evan Salmon, Niki Savvas & Chris Langlois, Newspace, Sydney College of the Arts

Watt Decade, Ten Year Anniversary, Watt Space, The University of Newcastle

People and Places from Hunter-Manning Regional Collections, Manning Regional Gallery, Taree 1998 The Four Elements, A Journey Across The Land,

Newcastle Art Gallery

Recent Acquisitions, Newcastle Art Gallery

Salon des Refuses, S.H. Ervin Gallery, Sydney

Steel Works, Lake Macquarie City Art Gallery

The Horizon Line, King Street Gallery, Sydney

1996 Salon des Refuses, S.H. Ervin Gallery, Sydney 1995 Hidden Treasures, Art in Corporate Collections,

S.H. Ervin Gallery, Sydney

Salon Des Refuses, S.H.Ervin Gallery, Sydney

Sketch (Goobarragandra River) no.2, 2014 oil on board 21x29cm

Sketch (Skirmish Point) no.5, 2009 oil on board 17x28cm

Catalogues & Publications

Collections

2013 J. Beaumont, F. Fenner, J. McDonald, The Land and its

Bendigo Art Gallery

Psyche, the Macquarie Group Collection,

NewSouth Publishing

2013 Katherine Roberts, Simon Gregg, Chris Langlois Points in

Campbelltown City Bicentennial Art Gallery Newcastle Region Art Gallery

Time, Manly Art Gallery and Museum and Gippsland

Manly Art Gallery and Museum

Maitland City Art Gallery

Art Gallery

2012 Relective Dialogue, Chris Capper, Andy Divine, Chris Langlois,

Peter Tilley, The University of Newcastle

2011 Simon Gregg, New Romantics Darkness and Light in

Australian Art, Australian Scholarly Publishing

New England Regional Art Gallery Gold Coast City Art Gallery Glasshouse Regional Gallery, Port Macquarie

2010 Silent Spaces, Macquarie University Art Gallery, Sydney,

The University of Newcastle

2009 In Paradise, Artists of the Northern Beaches, Manly Art Gallery

University of Technology, Sydney

Parliament House, Canberra

& Museum

2008 Chris Langlois, Paintings, exhibition catalogue,

Rex Irwin Art Dealer

2007 Chris Langlois, exhibition catalogue, Moree Plains Art Gallery.

Rex Irwin Art Dealer

2006 Winter Weather, exhibition catalogue, Martin Browne Fine Art 2005 Great Escapes, Lake Macquarie City Art Gallery 2003 Depth of Field, exhibition catalogue, Karen Hall, Louise Tegart

& Rex Butler, Shepparton Art Gallery

2001 Land Sea Sky, Chris Langlois, essay by Rosemary Hawker,

Metro Arts

2001 Fading to Nought, Chris Langlois, essay by John Murphy,

Martin Browne Fine Art & SEL

Artbank Sydney Children’s Hospital Allen, Aurthur, Robinson NRMA Macquarie Bank BT Funds Management AMP The University and Schools Club, Sydney Gippsland Art Gallery

Sketch (Pumicestone Channel) no.1, 2009, oil on board, 20x27cm

Sketch (Tumult River) no.1, 2014, oil on board, 23x29cm

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GLASSHOUSE PORT MACQUARIE REGIONAL GALLERY Chris Langlois 20 November 2015 - 17 January 2016 Niomi Sands: Gallery Curator | Bridget Purtill & Anne-Marie McWhirter: Gallery Assistants Marie Taylor: Graphic Design | Chrysalis Printing: Catalogue Printing Chris Langlois, Louise Martin Chew & Niomi Sands: Text Copyright Chris Langlois: Image & Photography Copyright Š Glasshouse Regional Gallery 2015. ISBN: 978-0-9871534-2-5 This publication is copyright. Apart from fair dealing for the purposes of research, study or as otherwise permitted under the Copyright Act, no part may be reproduced by any process without permission. Enquiries should be made to Glasshouse Regional Gallery.

The Glasshouse Regional Gallery would like to especially thank Chris Langlois and the staff from Olsen Irwin Gallery, Sydney, and Gould Galleries, Melbourne for their support with this exhibition and Louise Martin Chew for her wonderful and insightful words. Special thanks to the Glasshouse Technical Team and Volunteers for all their hard work on installing this exhibition.

Chris Langlois would like to thank Brett Stone and all the staff at Olsen Irwin Gallery Sydney, Jacqui Frazer from Gould Galleries Melbourne, Niomi Sands and Bridget Purtill from the Glasshouse Region Gallery, and Louise Martin Chew.

The Glasshouse is supported by the NSW Government through Arts NSW.

Cnr Clarence & Hay Streets Port Macquarie 02 6581 8888 info@glasshouse.org.au glasshouse.org.au

GALLERY OPENING HOURS Tue - Fri: 10am - 5pm Sat - Sun: 10am - 4pm Public Holidays: 10am - 4pm

Government Sponsors

Founding Sponsors The Glasshouse is supported by the NSW Government through Arts NSW

Cover image front: Waterfield no.12, 2012, digital pigment print on cotton rag, 83x72cm Cover Image back: Weather System (Tasman Sea) no.39, 2015, oil on linen, 122x137cm

GLASSHOUSE PORT MACQUARIE REGIONAL GALLERY