A still life: 2014
Elisabeth Cummings
Elisabeth Cummings A still life: 2014
Whaling Road Studios 2014
Elisabeth Cummings 2014 Monotypes Etchings Ceramics
King Street Gallery on William
www.kingstreetgallery.com.au 1
2
The Monotypes
Shell 2014 monotype 58x76cm
3
The Green Rabbit 2014 monotype 56x74cm
4
The Orange Table 2014 monotype 76x59cm
5
Elisabeth Cummings Even with her landscape paintings, Elisabeth Cummings is drawn to the foreground rather than the big ‘out there.’ Her seductive wandering lines issue an intimate invitation to the curious, an entree to a milieu that becomes more complex with closer scrutiny. In this current collection of monotypes and ceramics, it’s easy to imagine the artist at play, rendering her observations through a filter of inner space. She teases the eye with slight abstractions of colour and form, offset with more recognisable objects in a fine balance: the clutter of a kitchen sink, dining table debris, and various bric-a-brac assemblages as she creates a most convivial ambience. There is a sense of Elisabeth puzzling out her process, making the familiar interesting with a looseness that belies her honed repertoire of techniques and practised hand. Through her marks of line and colour she builds a rarefied vibration; a
6
– Monotypes, Ceramics & Etchings microcosmic edge that pulls us through and into a parallel world of whimsy and nostalgia. Among the abundant fruit, mysterious cupboards, and seemingly fuelled by endless pots of coffee, several chance meetings populate the exhibition like guides through an imaginative realm. An elephant on the table, an incongruous green rabbit, a somnolent blue Siamese cat all take on the persona of still life. Cummings’ work, whether paintings, monotypes or ceramics radiate a lustrous finish, a marbled tension within her compositional space. Her own unique blend of artistic rhythms, textures and patterns describe a definitive language, unmistakeable and yet continually evolving. She challenges herself to illuminate the detritus of everyday life, and ultimately to burnish the human condition afresh with insightful warmth. James Compton (with thanks to Pham Ngoc Tram) 2014
Piero Still Life 2014 monotype 76x59cm
7
8
Coffee or Tea? 2014 monotype 76x59cm
Striped Cups and Lily 2014 monotype 56x79cm
9
Sake Bottle and Shells 2014 monotype 75x56.5cm
10
Figs and Garlic 2014 monotype 56x76cm
11
12
J’s Cupboard 2014 monotype 76x56cm
High Tea 2014 monotype 56x76cm
13
14
Elephant on My Table 2014 monotype 56x76cm
15
Jean Luc 2014 monotype 56x76cm
16
Crinums and Pomegranates 2014 monotype 56x74cm
17
Chinese Pot 2014 monotype 57x76cm
18
Bleu Cat, Blue Table 2014 monotype 56x76cm
Mystery Cupboard 2014 monotype 74x54cm
19
20
Cicada Press Sydney
The Etchings
Coffee Pot and Pot Plant 2013 etching 51x40cm [sheet size]
21
The Blue Jug 2013 etching 50.5x46cm [sheet size]
22
Turkish Coast 2013 etching 50.5x40cm [sheet size]
23
The Pot call the Jug Black 2013 etching 50.5x40.5cm [sheet size]
24
The Kitchen Sink 2012 etching 40.5x50cm
25
Among the Termite Mounds 2012 etching 60x80cm [sheet size]
26
Evening Termite Mounds 2012 etching 60x80cm [sheet size]
Out West 2012 etching 61x79.5cm [sheet size]
27
28
Rainbow Over The Flinders 2013 etching 60x80cm [sheet size]
Rain Storm 2011 etching 60x79cm [sheet size]
29
30
Ceramics Louise Boscacci Design Elisabeth Cummings
The Ceramics
31
32
Glennis, Elisabeth, Steve, Idris and Steve New Zealand 2014
Elisabeth New Zealand 2014
33
34
35
Louise Boscacci
36
37
38
39
Peter O’Doherty New Zealand 2014
40
Full CV on www.kingstreetgallery.com.au Acknowledgments Photography: Michael Bradfield Text: James Compton Design: Sam Woods
King Street Gallery on William
10am – 6pm Tuesday – Saturday 177 William St Darlinghurst NSW 2010 Australia T: 61 2 9360 9727 art@kingstreetgallery.com www.kingstreetgallery.com.au Directors: Robert Linnegar and Randi Linnegar
Member of the Australian Commercial Galleries Assocation Registered Valuer with the Australian Government Taxations Incentives for the Arts Scheme Published by King Street Studios P/L 2014 ISBN: 978-0-9875540-3-1