Staff Picks - Gallery Associate Laura Ryan

Christopher Beaumont (b.1961)
Still life with Blossom 2009
Oil on fine linen
25 x 30 cm
no. 10472

The space in these works is a virtual or abstract space while the rendering of objects wholly representational. I had a great interest in astronomy as a child. The heavens are an abstract emptiness with objects moving on principles of geometry. The world of atoms & molecules are often pictured as coloured spheres in this same black space. Atoms and molecules don’t actually look like this at all but this helps us to understand them conceptually. It is the same space of 3D computer modelling. I have grown up in a time when these images are commonplace and this is definitely an influence on the way I conceive of paintings. -Christopher Beaumont, 2007

Mike Parr (b.1945)
Zastruga Self Portrait 1986
Oil crayon & charcoal on paper
69.5 x 100cm
no.2772

Zhong Chen (b.1969)
Concubine Concubine
Oil on linen
122 x 122cm
no.10983

The pixel paintings incorporate images of Chinese portraits, animals and landscape, each of which is central to the genre of traditional Chinese ink brush painting. Zhong has painted Chinese beauties, Peking opera characters, Door gods and Imperial dogs in his recent body of paintings. By using traditional Chinese inspired images Zhong conveys a sense of his cultural identity. The choice of images are pop, as the folk art of China are an important part of the everyday and popular culture. Woodblock prints and paper cut outs are placed on windows and doors in China. Door god images are placed on doors to protect from the evil spirits. The ‘Romeo and Juliet’ paintings show images of traditional inspired Chinese lovers relating to Shakespeare’s romantic tragedy. David Thomas writes, “Paradoxes abound, not the least of them being the telling of a highly romantic tale through the calculated images of a computer. But these paintings are undeniably contemporary images, sophisticated in their marriage of ancient Eastern customs with new Western technology. The elegant faces may be based on age-old concepts of Chinese beauty, but they materialise as pixelated images of the computer age.” (1)

(1) David Thomas, “Zhong Chen : The Unity of the past and the present”, Zhong Chen Catalogue, Melbourne, 2002.

Stephen Nothling (b.1962)
A Rough Guide to all the Wrens 2007
Oil on canvas
100 x 150cm
no.9237

Samuel Wade (b.1979)
Orchard
oil on canvas
76 x 51cm
no.10036

By portraying these everyday visions using a traditional art training, the artist constructs a dialogue between commonplace existence and artistry, where subtle ironies along with a reverence for the art of the past are explored. The iconic figures of mother and child or a figure exuding pre-Raphaelite beauty may appear on a station platform, for instance. Special care in the portrayal of atmosphere and time of day acknowledges the legacy of the impressionts, while the introspective possibilities offered by the tradition of portraiture are explored. -Sam Wade 2009

Geoffrey Proud (b. 1946)
Emma – Twilight 2008
oil on canvas
100 x 88cm
no.9841

Often quirky and verging on the surreal, Geoffrey Proud's paintings in oil and pastel are like fractured fairytales. Depicting a world of innocence with a sometimes ominous edge, Proud's paintings are fantastic and bizarre. His choice of subjects is broad, including children and childhood narratives, flowers, still lifes and nudes. Alternating between expressionist impastoed brushwork and sensitive detail, he experiments freely with vibrant colour and varying textures. The highly glazed surfaces of his recent oils give his scenes an ethereal and otherworldly quality. Proud has won numerous awards including the Sulman Prize in 1976 for a painting on perspex, and the Archibald prize in 1990 for his portrait of writer Dorothy Hewett. He has exhibited consistently in all state capitals since 1966 and is represented in the National Gallery of Australia, Canberra; many State and regional gallery collections; Parliament House collections in Canberra and Sydney; Artbank; IBM collection; and the Elton John collection, London.

Garry Shead (b.1942)
The Rocking Horse 1986
Oil on board
90 x 120 cm
no.11133

As Sasha Grishin describes the series: “Throughout the series the constant recurring motif is that of the fully clad male dancer, usually shown in an evening suit and occasionally appearing slightly awkward and uncertain of himself, accompanied by a nude, or an almost nude female dancer. On one very basic level there is the aspect of voyeuristic erotic wish-fullfillment, drawing on the surrealist strategy of undressing the woman with the male gaze that had been so effectively employed by Renne Magrite. Shead’s female dancers are of great sensuous beauty and lyrical charm. There is a hint of a more metaphysical dimension of this dance, relating it to the dance of life as interpreted by artists like Edvard Munch. The Dance is performed on an allegorical stage like the arena of life, sometimes with an awareness of an audience and sometimes under the harsh glow of the spotlights. In most of the ‘Dance Sequence’ paintings there is an indication of an open door in the background, at times shown as the source of light, but in all instances the door way is a path for esacpe. Shead achieves in this series of paintings a great lryicism in the paint surface, a warm sensuousness through which the female flesh glows in a rich radiance. Increasingly these intimate interior settings allude to ambiguous and seductive dream-like reality where ideas and interpretations float free from gravity and verbal associations."

Reference: Grishin S, Garry Shead and The Erotic Muse, Craftsman House, 2001 p.166.

Jean Sutherland (1902 - 1978)
Asters in a White Vase c.1927
Oil on canvas
56 x 41cm
no.3146

Jean Sutherland is represented in the National Gallery of Victoria as well as many important collections throughout Australia. Sutherland was the recipient of many awards including the 1923 National Gallery of Victoria Travelling Art Scholarship.

Asters in a White Vase c.1927 is a luminous, delicately painted still life.

Sir Sidney Nolan (1917-1992)
Untitled (Bird) 1959
Ripolin enamel on paper
30.3 x 25.3 cm
Verso: Nolan / 10th April 1959 / New York
no.96003

Provenance: The artist
Private collection Sydney

Nolan is arguably Australia’s most significant and internationally acclaimed artist. Kenneth Clark refers to him as one of the major artists of the 20th century. He is well known for dramatic shifts between dark, moody themes and bright, uplifting creations. Always fresh and spontaneous, he never relied upon one style or technique but rather experimented throughout his lifetime with many different methods of application, and also devised some of his own.

He commenced formal training twice through the National Gallery of Victoria School of Art but felt compelled to educate himself instead. One of his greatest influences was the French Romantic poet Arthur Rimbaud whose image has been interpreted frequently in many of Nolan’s paintings. A love of music and literature is evident in many of his works both thematically and visually.

Several themes are captured in separate periods and series of works such as Gallipoli, The St Kilda period, Dimboola, Leda and the Swan and the Sonnets. But perhaps the most powerful and recurrent imagery is his iconic depictions of Ned Kelly, the idealistic bushranger and murderer well known in Australian folklore. This series began in 1945 and continued to surface in different techniques throughout Nolan’s lifetime.

Song Ling (b.1961)
Moonlight 2 2008
acrylic on canvas
71 x 56 cm
no.10235

I like to use symbolic imagery from traditional culture in my work as there are many layers of meaning for me. But with these new paintings I am not just looking for symbolism and meaning, but also concentrating on the aesthetic to create paintings of beauty.

With this current series of works I am seeking to represent the Childhood images, Chinese Zen style traditional ink and brush paintings and Asian comic characters in a new way; to give an ancient and pop image a contemporary look, to bring the symbol into a new technological context.

The modern printing process and digital technologies use the dot to produces images. I use a hand-painted dot to create my works.

The colours I use are often found in Chinese folk art and embroidery; I choose colours which have the strongest contrast to create tension in the work. Old technique versus new technique, traditional versus modern; color versus color. But still, I want to create paintings of beauty. Song Ling 2009

James Stephenson (b.1970)
View of Chetsingh Ghat 2009
Oil on board
29 x 19cm
no.10441

The works in this series take their inspiration from Hinduisms most holy site, the ancient north Indian city of Varanasi, situated on the Ganges River. Painted in situ on the city’s ghats (stone steps which descend the rivers bank), these works focus on the everyday ritual bathing performed by locals and pilgrims from all over India, and explore the beauty of one of the worlds great cultural centres.

James Stephenson trained at the Julian Ashton School and has won numerous awards including The Henry Gibbons Prize for Drawing in 1999.