Lot Essay
his hautingly beautiful picture represents what may be seen as a turning point in the artist,s oeuvre. It is one of a small number of paintings with Kangaroos as their central subject, a group that includes ;'Lost Land of the South, In a Great Land, Outback!, Kangaroo! Kangaroo!', aswell as the monumental 'Ozymandias'.
All were painted between 1988 (Eye of the Storm being one of the first) and 1991 but they have their roots in earlier work, noteably 'Red Kangaroo' (1983-87) and the diptych 'Brother the Great Spirit made us all (1987), this latter being a particularly curious work showing its main panel a young Kangaroo bounding over an indistinct landscape with a second panel into which a large flock of wheeling Corellas are painted. The frame design to the painting follows a similar pattern in that the artist uses the frame as a vehicle to further emphasise that the painting is not just a representation of the species but it takes on the purpose of an Icon of the twentieth century. These paintings address concerns that are quite universal.
" In this painting, I came about as near as I ever have to the thing I dreamed it might be when the work began.
I wanted to construct an imaginary space,quite stagelike I suppose, but from which I could make an area of relative calm, in the centre of some great storm. Clouds of red dust swirl around, front and behind, the shifting, moving winds are hinted at by a few small sticks and leaves painted blowing about. Nothing is seen beyond just this small piece of ground with its sprinkling of fallen gum leaves.
Three frightened Pink Cockatoos perch on the young Kangaroo in their search for safety, their lifted wings revealing such astartling pattern of intense red and pink.
But it's the young Red Kangaroo that holds the spirit of this work. This young male has such an interesting texture and colour of course, however it is the unmistakable shape of these great marsupials that gives them the presence and finally the power, to move us so.
To help make clear that this is something other than a depiction of some real event, I've denied the work the usually anonymous picture space of a rectangle. I've placed it instead in a panel carved and shaped at the top so that there can be no mistaking I want these animals to stand for something more than their natural history descriptions'
We are grateful to Errol Fuller for his help in cataloguing this lot
All were painted between 1988 (Eye of the Storm being one of the first) and 1991 but they have their roots in earlier work, noteably 'Red Kangaroo' (1983-87) and the diptych 'Brother the Great Spirit made us all (1987), this latter being a particularly curious work showing its main panel a young Kangaroo bounding over an indistinct landscape with a second panel into which a large flock of wheeling Corellas are painted. The frame design to the painting follows a similar pattern in that the artist uses the frame as a vehicle to further emphasise that the painting is not just a representation of the species but it takes on the purpose of an Icon of the twentieth century. These paintings address concerns that are quite universal.
" In this painting, I came about as near as I ever have to the thing I dreamed it might be when the work began.
I wanted to construct an imaginary space,quite stagelike I suppose, but from which I could make an area of relative calm, in the centre of some great storm. Clouds of red dust swirl around, front and behind, the shifting, moving winds are hinted at by a few small sticks and leaves painted blowing about. Nothing is seen beyond just this small piece of ground with its sprinkling of fallen gum leaves.
Three frightened Pink Cockatoos perch on the young Kangaroo in their search for safety, their lifted wings revealing such astartling pattern of intense red and pink.
But it's the young Red Kangaroo that holds the spirit of this work. This young male has such an interesting texture and colour of course, however it is the unmistakable shape of these great marsupials that gives them the presence and finally the power, to move us so.
To help make clear that this is something other than a depiction of some real event, I've denied the work the usually anonymous picture space of a rectangle. I've placed it instead in a panel carved and shaped at the top so that there can be no mistaking I want these animals to stand for something more than their natural history descriptions'
We are grateful to Errol Fuller for his help in cataloguing this lot