Roger Myles - Augustine Dall'Ava - Sue Ninham - Painting & sculpture - Friday 7 October - Saturday 29 October 2022

PAINTING MATTER(s)

It is not uncommon for viewers of abstract art to ask the question “what does this represent?”

In this series titled PAINTING MATTER(s), I am exploring how an understanding of abstract art can be meaningfully broadened by the inclusion of ‘non painting’ objects and materials and the extent to which this integration can take place, while still remaining within the established tradition of painting. In fact, rather than seeming to reject any notion of representation, it opens up the possibility to steadily expand that perception.

Along with the commonly accepted practice of painting in mixed media, I have incorporated in my works the materiality, surface characteristics and spatial relationship of found materials and objects and the way in which the intersection of these disparate elements relate to one another and to the space in which they are arranged.

One Dialogue and Two Paradoxes

The three sculptures were made during the long COVID lockdown period in Melbourne, hence the paradox! Fifty fifth Dialogue 2021 is part of an ongoing series which commenced in the year 2000.

A Dark Place

In early January 2020 I undertook a two month artist residency in a remote area in the north of Iceland. In winter, Iceland is a dark place. The sun shines dimly for approximately four hours a day. The fishing village I lived in is nestled in a stunningly beautiful bay and the studio I walked to every day, a converted fish processing factory, which has views across the cold, dark ocean to the fjords beyond. During my time there, it was common to experience extreme blizzards which brought howling winds and white-outs where visibility was impossible. They would disappear as suddenly as they arrived, revealing a snow covered, powdery, pristine landscape where any colour that existed popped and pulsed. It was the perfect place for me to live and work as I processed my personal grief. In mid-March, COVID chased me home earlier than planned. During my isolation in Adelaide I continued to work, filling journals with strange abstract landscapes emerging from memories of the dark places I had visited. I began to doodle compulsively in 2021 as the ongoing pandemic took its toll on me mentally and emotionally. The purpose of this process was to keep me agile creatively, but more significant was the continued evolution of my visual language. Iceland kept bubbling and fizzing to the surface in the playful drawings I made. A Dark Place is the culmination of the exploration I undertook in Iceland and a celebration of a darkness I have learned to embrace. Sue Ninham, September 2022