August 4, 2023 - August 20, 2023
STEWART MACFARLANE – AUSTRALIAN GOTHIC
Artist:
Stewart MacFarlane
Location:
subiaco
"When I was fourteen, I decided I was going to be an artist. It was the 1960s. I grew up in Adelaide, where Kym Bonython had a stylish, white gallery in North Adelaide that showed the cream of the Australian art crop. Figurative artists interested me most. I liked their myths and stories. Arthur Boyd’s Brides series was inspirational, with its wildly rich surface and stories of passion. Sidney Nolan was another cowboy who dreamt up his own icons.
"AUSTRALIAN GOTHIC is tied together by a mood and a theme. The landscape I’ve lived in for the past two years features throughout, with two narratives mixed into the theme. Painting has always allowed me to lose myself and forget the concerns of the everyday, even as I depict it.
"The semi-outback landscape and the almost-deserted little towns, reminded me of Russell Drysdale’s paintings. Looking again at his work buoyed me, reminding me of my teenage years and times spent at The Bonython Gallery."
Stewart MacFarlane
"AUSTRALIAN GOTHIC is tied together by a mood and a theme. The landscape I’ve lived in for the past two years features throughout, with two narratives mixed into the theme. Painting has always allowed me to lose myself and forget the concerns of the everyday, even as I depict it.
"The semi-outback landscape and the almost-deserted little towns, reminded me of Russell Drysdale’s paintings. Looking again at his work buoyed me, reminding me of my teenage years and times spent at The Bonython Gallery."
Stewart MacFarlane
