| Solness Home Page |
|
This link features a new body of work entitled the ‘Illuminated Landscape’. A new website is under construction to allow a better survey of the images available, planned launch is July 2010. This work is the culmination of many years of shooting the Australian environment at night and exploring the possibilities of ‘constructing landscapes’ by using selective lighting. By shooting at night there is no flare from the sun and hence the results are sublime. These works have created considerable public interest and there have been an increasing number of fine-art inkjet print sales. Please contact me via the Contacts Page if you have any inquiries. Respected Photographer and Writer Robert McFarlane recently wrote about this work: ‘Peter Solness reverses the orthodoxies of landscape photography. Light defines each of these pictures differently - by appearing to come from within the land rather than fall upon it…. These photographs add a remarkable new chapter to Australian photography..’ Robert writes reviews for the Sydney Morning Herald. To see Robert’s work and blog go to: http://www.robertmcfarlanephotos.com/blog_archive.html. In the past twelve months I’ve had five solo shows including ‘Nocturnal’ which ran for six months at Customs House in Circular Quay, ‘The Night Garden’ in Centennial Park, ‘The Secret Garden’ at the Hazelhurst Gallery in Gymea, and the ‘Iluminated Landscape Series’ at the Meyer Gallery in Darlinghurst and earlier at the Storm Gallery in Surry Hills. The work has also appeared in group shows including, The Challenged Landscape at the UTS Gallery, curated by Sandy Edwards ‘View from a Bondi cave – June 2010’
This is an old favourite place of mine – sourced out when I was a younger, more romantically inclined man living in Bondi in the early 1990’s. I used to take my girlfriend there to look at the view with a full moon rising over the Pacific Ocean. Well my life has moved on somewhat since then but it’s nice to return to see the view hasn’t changed. It is still splendid and special, made all the more intense by the fact that you are perched just above a rock shelf of boiling seawater, especially wild during stormy weather. The resultant acoustics are quite astounding. The only way to reach this spot is to scramble along a narrow ledge. I’m doing a series of stunning views from Sydney caves. It’s a work in progress. Stay tuned. ‘Mangrove Forest, Hawkesbury River, March 2010’
This was one of my more ambitious excursions. It required a 5 kilometre kayak up the Hawkesbury River, camping in a mossie infested mangrove in the high-tide zone and working in mud up to my knees until 1am in the morning. It’s all a part of my search for primeval landscapes in the Sydney Basin area. I love the graphic shapes of the trees and the bright blues, whites and muddy blacks. This image and four others were included in a group exhibition called, The Challenged Landscape’, April 20th to May 20th 2010 at the UTS Gallery, Sydney. The exhibition is curated by Sandy Edwards and featured the work of artists: Nici Cumpston, Ruby Davies, Bonita Ely, Michael Hall and Stephanie Valentin. ‘Hazelhurst Gallery Exhibition, March 2010’
This image is called ‘Splendid Rock, 2010’ and was featured in a show at the Hazelhurst Gallery in Gymea, during March 2010 and was called ‘The Secret Garden’. This image continues my fascination with the storybook-type landscapes that linger in our own backyard (if you live in Sydney) This exhibition featured images taken exclusively within the boundaries of the Royal National Park and in essence was a tribute to this wonderful region. It was also a chance to share with the local community of the Sutherland Shire, my enthusiasm and love for this place. Over the past 25 years as a working/traveling photographer, I have been to many parts of the world, but this region remains a favorite of mine. ‘Little Bay Coastline #2, 2010’ (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 has caught many people’s imagination. It is one of those watershed moments for me when I began to see how my new techniques were able to transcend the familiar to something else quite sublime. It has been described by some, as my most painterly image. ‘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.
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. credits | photos | cont@ct | current projects | illuminated landscape | curriculum vitae | home |
