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.
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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