Ancient Ground
Intrinsically Australian, the notion of water in landscape, be it mudflat, creek or billabong, has been a recurring theme in my work. Some of this new work revisits this issue using surface texture, light, and the reflection of the surrounding Kimberley landscape.
People often describe the Kimberley as being very beautiful, and the colour certainly is. After my first visit however, I realised how limited this cultural cliché is. “Beauty” in landscape is an over-generalisation; a 19th Century Eurocentric benchmark. The Kimberley is enigmatic, implacable, mysterious and, yes, very spiritual.
The most enduring sensation I had as a 21st Century artist was the sense of age; a timelessness that is beneath your feet, reflected in billabongs and infuses the light across a vista.
BMG Art, Adelaide
13 May - 4 June 2016
Known for her pure watercolour technique, the issue of water has been a recurring theme in Judith White’s work.
Painting expeditions to Cockatoo Island in Sydney, Tasmania’s Flinders Island and the Kimberley region of the island continentof Australia has been the inspiration behind White’s latest exhibition, Island.
White focuses on the junction of land and water, the power of the natural environment and the interaction of human history and endeavour at the very edge of this connection.
Linton & Kay Galleries, Perth
30 July - 21 August 2016
The official opening of Island (11 August 2016) will see White perform Bach in the Dark – The Painted Bach with cellist Rachel Scott as part of the City of Perth Winter Arts Festival.
Founded by Scott, an internationally renowned chamber musician, Bach in the Dark – The Painted Bach will make its Perth debut at Linton & Kay Galleries Perth on August 11.
In a darkened room, Scott plays Bach’s Cello Suite No.5 in Cm while behind her White paints her visual response to the music.
“Painting is normally a very private activity for me, so to do it in a concert situation is quite an enjoyable challenge. I use music as a tool to help interpret creative activity and Bach is amazing music in terms of the imagery that I can associate with it. The thrill of the process is the live music - I can disconnect from the act of painting and let Bach be the main person in the room,” said White.
In addition to public collaborative performance, White and Scott have had sessions collaborating on more intimately scaled work, the outcome of which is a series of “Prelude” paintings; two of which are included in White’s Island exhibition.
Seen here, White and Scott are working on the painting Prelude No.2
Prelude No.2
2016 acrylic & collage on canvas 112 x 183cm
