The Blog

Today I formed a food table for the opening of Lino and Kim's special book launch at the Bathurst Regional Art Gallery.  My work "Winter Still Life' is included in the exhibition (above). Here are some pictures of the assembling of the special table in the gallery with Lino and Kim's ceramics, with fruits and vegetables used in their recipes.  Its a special book and priced at $65 is a wonderful gift.  Go to the La Paloma website, or the Bathurst Regional Art Gallery to get a copy.

Its been a hot hot long Summer, and after the heavy Spring rains the garden has gone mad!  I have spent my time refurbishing the studio, sorting out chaos, getting ready for the next series.  In the meantime, my portrait of Luke Sciberras in the Archibald, is travelling around the country, now in Cowra. The most exciting news is the date for the documentary on my life and work, which is to be shown on the ABC as part of their 'Creative' strand.  It will happen on Tuesday 4th April at 10pm. Here are some pics from Summer in Hill End.

My portrait of neighbour, Luke Sciberras, artist, has been chosen as a finalist in this years Archibald at the Art Gallery of New South Wales. The exhibition is open from the 16th July to the 9th October.  The winner will be chosen on Friday 15th July.

My new show at Gallery 81, Chippendale, starts next Wednesday 18th May. I will be showing still life paintings inspired by the changing Seasons of Hill End, and the produce grown there.  I will be travelling down tomorrow, with my car full of paintings,vases, bowls, vegetation etc to set up a still life in the gallery. The opening will be on Saturday 28th May 3-5pm, with Charles Waterstreet as the guest speaker. Here are a couple of the new works - the first one is Roses and Red Brows. The birds in the painting are red brow finches which flock around here, and jump into my bird bath in profusion.   This painting below is titled Winter Table I , Oil on canvas,  91 x 91cm. Hope to see you there.        

My portrait of Richard Perram OAM is a semifinalist in the Doug Moran Portrait Prize.  Richard is the Director of Bathurst Regional Gallery.  I wanted to show in this painting a sense of expectation, a feeling of stillness with implied forward movement, an unsettled shadowy background implying hidden depths.  This work is 137 x 193cm oil on canvas.

I have a work in the Portia Geach currently on exhibition at S.H. Ervin Gallery, Observatory Hill, Sydney.  It is a painting of friend and fellow artist Genevieve Carrol and her daughter Parris Dewhurst.  It is quite a small work for me, to add to the intimate nature of the subject - a grown up daughter taking over the arrangement of her mother's hair.   I also have a second work in this series, which is currently on show in the 'Out of the Studio' exhibition, Jean Bellette Gallery, Hill End.

This year I have been continuing my series of major still life works - based on the  fruit/flora/fauna/produce from my Hill End garden and surrounds. 

 Below is the first in the series - the autumn still life, titled Rosemary's Garden - Autumn Harvest.  Oil on canvas, 3 panels, 152 x 274cm.  This work was exhibited in a group show at Orange Regional Art Gallery, titled Natura Morta.

 

The second in the series was painted this Summer. Its title is Summertime 2015 (below).  Oil on canvas, 3 panels, 152 x 274cm.

The Winter version is about to commence......

I have 2 works in the above show curated by the enigmatic Professor Peter Pinson.  It runs from 14th January to 8th February, with drinks next Saturday 17th January from 3-5pm. In Peter's catalogue essay he refers to my work using the pop imagery of the '50's. "Rosemary Valadon, a highly accomplished figurative painter who had won both the Blake Prize for religious art and the Portia Geach Memorial Award for portraiture, used the cover illustrations of mid-20th century pulp detective fiction publications as the templates for portraits of prominent Australian women writers and actors. Her paintings engage issues of homage, role-playing, and filmic drama, together with complex feminist subtexts. These “Wicked Women” Popist paintings of Rosemary Valadon demonstrate how fertile the field of popular visual culture continues to be for artists, and how adaptive and enduring the continuing legacy of Pop art has proved to be." Peter Pinson

Equiries about this exhibition can be made with peter@peterpinsonartdealer.com or

 Gallery Director Michelle Perry - info@spot81.com

   

This wonderful, peaceful exhibition is still open, closing in a few days time on the 11th January. It features work by Bill Moseley, Genevieve Carroll, Luke Sciberras, Euan McLeod, Guy Maestri, among others. My work - "Rosemary's Garden, Autumn Harvest" sits on the end wall. Here is an extract from the catalogue by Gavin Wilson, the Curator.

The artist’s mastery of chiaroscuro creates the effect of anointing each subject chosen for the table with a sense of purpose, reminiscent of the great 17th century Flemish painters such as Pieter Claesz and Frans Snyders. The horizontal format allows the viewer to leisurely peruse the tableau, contemplating the weight, shape, tone and texture of each object in this intriguing assembly. As Valadon points out: ‘… the subjects are what I regularly grow in my garden (with the pumpkin, corn, chillies and persimmon supplied by neighbours) …the yabbies cooked and uncooked are from my dam …and I have made very successful quince paste from the quinces.’ The one sombre note in the composition is the figure of a dead rabbit tucked up beside a bowl of produce at the centre of the table. Yet, it too will enter the food chain as a tasty morsel from the artist’s kitchen. Rosemary’s Garden – Autumn Harvest, speaks of time passing – as Hill End’s long, frosty winter is about to take hold. Gavin Wilson -  Exhibition Curator