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This link features a new body of work entitled the ‘Illuminated Landscape’.
This is the culmination of many years of shooting the Australian environment at night and exploring the possibilities of ‘constructing landscapes’ by using selective lighting. My latest Sydney exhibition will be in March at the Hazelhurst Gallery in Gymea (see link on Homepage for more info). Until the end of February I still have on show ‘Nocturnal’, at Customs House, Circular Quay. This exhibtion has had huge public response. Also until the end of February there are personally signed fine-art inkjet prints from this ever-growing series on show, and for sale, at the Meyer Gallery, 269 Bourke Street Darlinghurst NSW 2010 Australia. Ph: 9380 8014 Hours are, Thursday–Saturday 11am–6pm Sunday Noon–4pm & by appointment. Their website is http://www.meyergallery.com.au/ I encourage you to go along to the Meyer Gallery to witness the supreme clarity of these images. By shooting at night there is no flare from the sun and hence the results are simply sublime. ‘Little Bay Coastline #1, 2009’ (40 years after Christo)
I was always enthralled by the 1969 public art project, executed by artists Christo and Jeanne Claude, where they wrapped 2.5 kilometres of the Sydney coastline, just north of Little Bay, using one million square feet of fabric. (The Art Gallery of NSW is running a retrospective of the John Kaldor Public Art Projects from 1969-2009 this summer) With my new vision as a photographer with a passion for illuminating landscapes, I imagined if I could ‘wrap’ this same coastline 40 years later, using torchlight instead of fabric. This image is the first of a series and it is based on a 1969 iconic photograph from the time. The exact position of the original photo has been recreated and I even placed figures in the landscape to copy the original image. (I haven’t published the original image here as I haven’t had a chance to arrange an authority from the photographer) Anyway it has been fun to do and I have had very strong responses from the other images in this series, one of which is on show at the Meyer Gallery until late February 2010. Meyer Gallery details are at http://www.meyergallery.com.au/ ‘Aboriginal Engraving – Jibbon Point 2009’
I love this location as Jibbon Point. There is a certain energy about the place. I have been dropping by here for years as it is close to the family home. For a long time I could never imagine how to successfully photograph the site. It’s an amazing feeling now to realise an image, that for a long time, I only ever wondered about. Some images come to you when they are ready. This is one of them. A fine-art inkjet print of this image will be featured as part of a special hanging at the Meyer Gallery from January 14th.
I was originally going to call this shot – Cold Fish Creek 2009, as I had to stand in near freezing water here for almost an hour as I painstakingly drew by hand with my torch, each little fish you see in this image. Then the water surface had to be emphasized so I passed a LED torch over the water surface which gave it a blue tint. Yes I know there is such a thing as Photoshop, but I like the innocence and sense of adventure that creating my landscapes ‘in camera’ can provide. There is no going back to touch up bits and pieces – you have to construct the sort of image you want, whilst on location. It keeps the creative juices flowing and retains for me some sort of interaction with the natural world.
This proof sheet gives a sample of some of the images that make up the Illuminated Landscape Series. The images are printed on high quality pigment inkjet paper by Cam Neville from Storm Imaging in Surry Hills, and range from A0 to the smaller A1 and A2 sizes, They are being sold in editions of 15. For further inquiries you can speak to Mary Meyer at the Meyer Gallery mary@meyergallery.com.au or Ph: 02 9380 8014
On a cold and wintry night in 2009, Sydney Harbour took on a faintly surreal character as Illumo Man began his noble quest. I’m not sure what the Manly ferry captain thought as he navigated his craft through the evening waters. There was this luminescent figure, flailing about in the shallows of Neilsen Park. Nonetheless a legend was born on that night, and hence the dark and empty corners of the world will never be the same again. Illumo Man’s mission is a simple but elegant one. To bring a little light and magic to dark places. ‘North Head viewed from Grotto Point, 2009’
This winter I have been spending time on the shores of our beautiful Sydney Harbour. The harbour has been a muse for many artists over the years, most fondly for me Adrian Feint, Lloyd Rees, Margaret Preston, Max Dupain and David Moore. (sure Brett Whiteley has done some great stuff too but his work speaks to me of brash Sydney – which is something that I have tired of)
In the development of my ‘Illuminated Landscape’ project I have sought to consider a variety of landscapes to explore and expand the illustrative potential of my techniques. Here is a good example of how a common coastal feature can become transformed into something else. A friend recently said there is something very ‘storybook’ about what I’m doing. He is right. It feels like each night that I go in search of ‘Illuminated Landscapes’ with my backpack of various bits of equipment and tins of baked beans, that I’m passing through ‘the wardrobe’ into a visual ‘Narnia’. In fact all I’m doing is driving for less then one hour from my home in Maroubra, yet it feels like a journey to another land, in another time. ‘Cascades at Mossy Creek, 2009’
There was some rain the other day and so I headed out to a waterfall I know on the outskirts of Sydney to capture something ‘watery’. I didn’t realise that the showers were quite localized and so there was not much water to play with. But I saw this small cascade, barely 50 cms high and liked the form of it. The more I explored the elements of it – i.e. the interesting patterns on the underside and the reflections in the pool; the more I was able to get engaged. Sometimes it’s the smaller things that can inspire as they can represent something elemental. This is a very elemental study of the beauty of water, no more no less. It’s just an exquisite play of light and form in some dark valley on the outskirts of Sydney on your average weeknight, while everyone else is at home watching the evening news on TV and no doubt more sobering news about our dieing river systems. ‘Banksia serata at Crystal Creek’
Part of the pleasure of this series is that it allows me to get in close to capture delicious details that would otherwise be overwhelmed by the flood of light that occurs in bright daylight. This is an example of how by working in darkness the act of photography becomes a type of distillation of elements. The Macquarie Dictionary explains the word distillation as: ‘the separation of one substance from another’. In a visual sense it is the separation of the Banksia from a clutter of other visual details, by making a judicious choice between varying quantities of light and shade. credits | photos | cont@ct | current projects | illuminated landscape | curriculum vitae | home |
