Urban Landscapes - from the archives
2012 - 2015
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'Oysters, bone, leadshot and heavy metal - The Derwent River, Tasmania' oil on board, 40cm x 120cm - 2015 (finalist, John Glover prize)
My father and grandfather were architects. I inherited an abiding passion for architecture and it was not long into painting landscapes that I began painting the built environment. When I found a trove of old kodachrome slides that my father took during his travels through Italian Hill towns in 1962, I painted works around his beautifully composed photos and added vedute from beloved places I have lived and travelled to. When the time came to title these works I decided it was apt to marry the 2 paths I have followed.
The first 20 years of my adult life were spent learning and then teaching meditation. This chapter, as a painter, is built on those years of ‘research’ into the transcendent and it seemed apt to title many of these works with verses from The Upanishads - which imparts the timeless wisdom of Rishis, who devoted their lives to the cognition of reality and the exposition of Truth about the nature of manifest and unmanifest creation. These ancient texts are part of the vast body of knowledge and an extant tradition called The Vedas which I continue to stand in true awe of.
‘The little space within the heart is as great as the vast universe‘
‘Tre Sorelle’
‘except for awareness, all is accidental’
‘The why for now is enough’
‘The path of the sun leads to self knowledge from which there is no return.’
‘Vota Socialista Italia’
‘Padre’
‘That which is here is also there’
‘By standing still we overtake those that are running’
‘The voice of a dead man goes into fire‘
‘Like the sharp edge of a razor is that path, so the wise say - hard to tread and difficult to cross.’
‘I taste salt everywhere.’
‘ The face of Truth is hidden by a golden disk’
‘ Tamarama’
‘Paddington’
‘Underground Zen’
‘Assisi’
‘Carlton’
‘Broken Hill - town meeting’
‘Trades Hall - Broken Hill’
‘Cygnet, Tasmania’
‘Saturday - Broken Hill’
‘Oxide Street - Broken Hill’
‘Virginity’
‘The Lunatic’
‘a bawling, splashing, link-lighted, umbrella-struggling, hackney-coach-jostling, patten-clinking, muddy, miserable world‘ - Charles Dickens
‘Om - Fitzroy’
‘Carlton II’
‘Sydney, Winter’
‘On The Road’
‘Down Only’
‘Red Shed, Hobart’
‘Broken Hill Housewives Association’
‘Tamarama’