OPPOSITE: TRANSFORM, 183CM X 122CM OIL ON LINEN
LIFE MUSEUM Paintings by Kate Elsey 5 – 27 November, 2016 Exhibition opened by Anna Thomas, Perth born luxury women’s designer label and retailer Jeff Newman OAM, Chairman, Telethon Type 1 Diabetes Family Centre
Brookfield Place, Level 1/137 St Georges Terrace, Perth WA 6000
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LIFE MUSEUM 2016 Nature is the home of the muses — the ultimate museum of living things that have survived flood, drought, fire and the whole bang of life ever evolving. As an inspiration it is far more than its individual forms. The system of balance and entropy at a cellular level with the human body is a relentless micro-climate of a natural world. In Life Museum 2016, I am striving to capture the essences of a natural world encapsulating what we may admire from a distance yet is intrinsically bound up with us in our common future. I am inspired by the wild structures, forms, textures and patterns that express the functional mechanisms of flora and fauna, and the survival of our world. Expressed the in the exhibition title and body of work itself is my unquenchable, unfinished project to understand and celebrate the many aspects of life so often overlooked. With subtle delicate overtone bombarded with a bold nature scale, these paintings are the product of my lived experience travelling through and sketching the great Australian wilderness. There is a language in the shapes I see repeated in the sheoak bark and in between the charred trees lit by refracted light seeping through a tall canopy. Between actual forms and the sound and the density of air there is for me a connecting light from past and present creating illusions of creatures darting from billabong to knotted river gum.
What emerges on canvas is my sub-conscious and experience — the colours, shapes and forms that have entered me, and then, sometimes I am truly surprised to see my work transform into a new understanding of the natural world — present to some extent in all these works but most distilled in the Transform series — titled Transform (inside cover), The Embrace (p7) and Capillarity (p18). I paint without plan or theory in mind but on reflection, my creativity is informed by a biological, natural language of arrangement, mimicry, biomes and capillarity. On us all, the sun rains down on Earth, triggering a wave of ceaseless activity. This is a profound moment of clarity… these works are my response to the pull of nature that joins the cells of a single plant with the waters in an ancient river course, thus connecting the whole landscape together.
Kate Elsey
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THIS PAGE: SPIRITS OF THE GORGE 168CM X 300CM OIL ON LINEN OPPOSITE: WHERE THE WATER FALLS 168CM X 300CM OIL ON LINEN
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THIS PAGE: THE NOOK 107CM X 152CM OIL ON LINEN OPPOSITE: THE EMBRACE 182CM X 122CM OIL ON LINEN
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THIS PAGE: PINK LAKE 96CM X 300CM OIL ON LINEN OPPOSITE: THE RIVER GUM AND THE BLOSSOM 137CM X 137CM OIL ON LINEN
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THIS PAGE: FORMING EARTH, 183CM X 243CM OIL ON LINEN OPPOSITE: RED EVENING, 183CM X 243CM OIL ON LINEN
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THIS PAGE: IRON BARK AND THE HEATHLAND 137CM X 137CM OIL ON LINEN OPPOSITE: TEXTURES OF A GRASSTREE FOREST 168CM X 183CM OIL ON LINEN
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THIS PAGE AND OPPOSITE: OPEN SEASON 96CM X 300CM OIL ON LINEN
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THIS PAGE: THE GRASSTREE AND THE BILLABONG 168CM X 183CM OIL ON LINEN OPPOSITE: THE SHEOAK AND THE WATTLE 168CM X 183CM OIL ON LINEN
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THIS PAGE: FIRE ORCHIDS 183CM X 243CM OIL ON LINEN OPPOSITE: CAPILLARITY 183CM X 243CM OIL ON LINEN
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THIS PAGE: RIVER GUM DIVING, OIL ON LINEN 107CM X 152CM
“Presently existing in this living museum of ultimate beauty and mystery, I strive to capture the intrinsic interdependence of ourselves and nature and our shared cycle of life�
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ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS I respectfully acknowledge the past and present traditional owners of the land on which these paintings are exhibited, the Whadjuk Noongar. Thank you Gary Kay and Linton Partington for your unrivalled professionalism and wonderful team at Linton and Kay Galleries. It is an absolute pleasure to exhibit with you.
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LIST OF PAINTINGS
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1.
TRANSFORM, 183CM X 122CM OIL ON LINEN
2.
SPIRITS OF THE GORGE, 168CM X 300CM OIL ON LINEN
3.
WHERE THE WATER FALLS, 168CM X 300CM OIL ON LINEN
5.
THE NOOK, 107CM X 152CM OIL ON LINEN
4.
THE EMBRACE, 183CM X 122CM OIL ON LINEN
6.
THE RIVER GUM AND THE BLOSSOM, 137CM X 137CM OIL ON LINEN
7.
PINK LAKE, 96CM X 300CM OIL ON LINEN
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FORMING EARTH, 183CM X 243CM OIL ON LINEN
9.
RED EVENING, 183CM X 243CM OIL ON LINEN
10.
IRON BARK AND HEATHLAND, 137CM X 137CM OIL ON LINEN
11.
TEXTURES OF A GRASSTREE FOREST, 168CM X 183CM OIL ON LINEN
12.
OPEN SEASON, 96CM X 300CM OIL ON LINEN
13.
THE SHEOAK AND THE WATTLE, 168CM X 183CM OIL ON LINEN
14.
THE GRASSTREE AND THE BILLABONG, 168CM X 183CM OIL ON LINEN
15.
CAPILLARITY, 183CM X 243CM OIL ON LINEN
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FIRE ORCHIDS, 183CM X 243CM OIL ON LINEN
17.
RIVER GUM DIVING, 107CM X 152CM OIL ON LINEN
Linton & Kay Galleries, Perth City Brookfield Place Level One, 137 St Georges Terrace Perth | 08 6465 4314 www.lintonandkay.com.au Parking is available in King Street at Atrium parking or on St Georges Terrace opposite the Gallery at Wilson Parking. Gallery opening hours Mon–Sat 10–5pm, Sun 11–4pm