As a response to the exhibition and the tutorial discussions about The Spirit in the Land, I was interested in comparing the emotive responses of the works of Sidney Nolan, Rover Thomas and John Olsen. I felt quite strongly about the way that they represent the land in different ways.
In Sidney Nolans 'Unnamed Ridge, Central Australia' we discussed how it makes us feel about the land we live in, and whether it is a true representation. The vast spaces that Sydney Nolan experianced personally are painted as seen. I feel that it gives a bit of a scary, lost vibe.
In Sidney Nolans 'Unnamed Ridge, Central Australia' we discussed how it makes us feel about the land we live in, and whether it is a true representation. The vast spaces that Sydney Nolan experianced personally are painted as seen. I feel that it gives a bit of a scary, lost vibe." I wanted to deal ironically with the cliche of the 'dead heart'; I wanted to know the true nature of the 'otherness' I had been born into. It was not a European thing. I wanted to paint the great purity and implacability of the landscape. I wanted a visual form of the 'otherness' of the thing not seen' (Elwyn Lynn & Sidney Nolan. 'Sidney Nolan'. Australian. Sydney. 1978)
In comparison - Rover Thoma's work 'Bedford Downs' reflects the land much more accuratly. Even though it is abstract and within the confines of a canvas, Thomas has successfully, through his aerial and profile view of the space and landform, created a visual insight into the true nature of this land. After all, the land can be a bit of a scary place sometimes.
John Olsen in his piece 'Nothing is as beautiful as spring', strikes a different note. His exploration into the bubbly life of the Coorong, all the green bush and ecosystems. Similar to Thomas, Olsen gets his inspiration from an aerial perspective. The dense and vibrant expressive lines depict the life and movement of the green frogs and tadpoles. There is something about this painting that excites my senses.
Observing these three artists encourages me to appreciate the different elements of the land, the stark, dry and big aspects that Sidney Nolan represents, the enhancement of space and spiritually fullness shown with great respect by Rover Thomas and the fun, colourful and lively 'water' areas so energetically portrayed by John Olsen. These artists and their connection to the land are vastly different - which is understandable because of the severe enormity of Australia - yet they all capture it completely. It is not so different to the way that people percieve artworks. Some may look at an artwork and see something incredible, yet another person may look at the same artwork and take something completely different out of it. People recieve different emotive responses to the land, whether it is the wonderous dry, sparce outback in central Australia, or the tropical rainforests of north Queensland, or even the cold, wet, "english-like" hills of South Australia and Tasmania. Apart from the results of a persons' situational living, the recieved picture of Australia is incredibly diverse. However, for some odd reason - the majority of artworks that represent Australia internationally are concentrated depictions of the "outback" or "bush" simplicity.
Out of what I have read in magazines such as Contemporary Visual art and Culture Broadsheet and Artlink, Australia, as a colonialised country has been desperatly searching for some sort of identity, something that would settle them as individual. So perhaps, the concentration on this "bush" living, is a way for the world to see something they don't find in any other country. However, as Margaret Preston comprehended, the key to Australia's success in finding an identity is the focus on Aboriginal art. So really, the answer to this long time problem is Aboriginal art - something that us as "white fellas" have no say or inclusion. For some reason, I think that the true identity (as Richard Bell covered in his political comments about how there is no such thing as Australian art) lies in Aboriginal art, and nothing else. So in conclusion - remember that this is coming from a student, so don't take it as gospel or anything - there is only such thing as Aboriginal Art.
