URBAN CALM
Side Gallery
Brisbane
10 March - 1 April 2022
www.sidegallery.com.au
Olympia 2021
Acrylic + ink on board
10 x 16cm
————————————————————-
* All paintings are acrylic + ink on board
Sizes range from 12 - 30cm approx
* Please scroll past paintings for a short read on this body of work
Olympus Bay - Magnetic Island 2020 - 2 panels
Acrylic + ink on marine ply
Urban Calm Objects - Chair Studies 2021
All works are approx between 7 - 14 cm each
Acrylic, ink, pencil, ink pen on wood
Object - Pool - landscape Studies
All works are approx between 7 - 14 cm each
Acrylic, ink, pencil, ink pen on wood
Urban Calm
We live in turbulent times. The calming quality of water offers us respite. It invites us closer; it is unconditional.
The ocean allows us to float, to be immersed. A backyard pool does the same, albeit on a smaller scale. Water evokes freedom, joy, togetherness, healing, longing and stillness. It is also mysterious and can stir things up. It is an opportunity to reflect and connect with the bigger picture.
It brings to mind my childhood playing in the Australian, February summer heat, picking blood red plums off the tin-shed roof, burning feet and icy poles.
Dad installed a simple ‘above ground’ pool and built a deck around it - it wasn’t fancy but it was pure joy as we dive bombed onto lilos, threw tennis balls and splashed water over each other. Growing up in a family of 6 it was unusual to have quiet time and when floating in the pool, gazing at the sky and moving clouds it brought to mind the poetry of stillness. The sun cast its long shadows and as the evening settled in, the call was made and we’d all run in for dinner.
I have always loved the ocean. The tides, the sound of crabs scuttling and rock pools. Every day a new face. A mirror for our emotions and a conduit for healing, it offers an opportunity to dissolve limitations - the horizon reminding us to let things go….
In this body of work, it is my hope that the viewer is able to distil the sense of being near water. The solitary chairs, a symbol of stillness, invite the viewer to observe, to reflect and to drift into imaginary worlds.
My winter studio on Magnetic Island in far north Queensland is a profound influence on my art practice and indeed informs a large body of this collection. Daily snorkelling on the Great Barrier Reef brings rich rewards. A sensory and visual chorus of subtle sounds, tropical fish and coral envelops my senses and meanders throughout my paintings.
Toowoomba, where I am based on the Great Dividing Range, brings this two-year body of work full circle. My studio becomes a place of gathering and I am able to synthesis my experiences. It is my hope that if you are unable to be in the presence of water that you are able to at least feel the essence and thus feel rejuvenated.
Perhaps in the stillness, one may even intuit a deeper ‘presence,’ a mysterious otherness.
Catherine Parker