Stories Behind Large Paintings in Stockroom
A number of large works in Art Forum stockroom have not been shown for sometime so I decided to select some for display. Click on images to see further descriptions.
Mark Elliot-Ranken
Inland (salt) seas are frozen in luminous reminder of pasts, too old to remember, but not yet forgotten either. Occasionally the waters would remind these seas how it is to be alive and brimming, from Lake Amadeus to Eyre from Torrens to Mungo. It was not a landscape frozen in paint or with possession one could not possess such an immensity.
Mark Elliot Ranken
Mark Elliot-Ranken, on his art:
"This is the language of liberation - a state we all need to obtain to live rather than simply exist.
Painting is an ancient but equally contemporary process, nothing equals it except poetry… it is poetry. I work with the act of picking up a brush and making a mark, time and again I learn a simple lesson; listen to the painting it will tell you what to do. This is the lesson of painting."
Click for more works by Mark Elliot-Ranken
Den Warnjing
Jujaka, a greedy old Brahmin, had a beautiful young wife, Amittada, who was also hardworking. The husbands of the other women in the village held her up as an example of a good industrious wife. One day, in a fit of jealousy, all the village women gathered by the well and beat up the Brahmin's young wife, tearing her clothes. From then on Amitada refused to work hard, and nagged her husband to find some servants. The scenes, especially of the mismatched couple of Jujaka, the old Brahmin, and his nagging young wife Amittada, are avidly portrayed in this painting. The sequel to this story is the abduction of Buddha’s children by the old Brahmin to be his servants and how Buddha’s children were rescued.
Den Warnjing, on his art:
"My way of life in the countryside since childhood has made me see the way of life of village folks - simple, happy and peaceful. Their beliefs are related to religions, customs and benevolent traditions."
Click for more works by Den Warnjing
Jeremy Sharma
2011 was a major milestone in Jeremy’s artistic journey when he exhibited his Variation Series.
Jeremy painted each day on the same-size square canvas layers of colours first to create the colour, 'Cerulean’. He then extended this explorations to the butter/yellow suites, which are complementary in colour to Cerulean. The yellow is pale as it is golden – sunlight-hardened to a substance.
Jeremy Sharma, on his art :
"It was probably 2013-2014 that I last lifted the brush. The Variation series was a daily record of finding that elusive tone of yellow and blue. I was interested in creating depth and space with simple gestures. They were my first ventures into fully monochromatic works. They were also significant because they were the last body of works that I painted with a brush."
Click for more works by Jeremy Sharma.
Lindslee
Lindslee’s works take viewers beyond their comfort zone. He challenges viewers’ idea of beauty, and of what is good and bad. Often, he picks up what he sees in his surroundings, all that are mundane and overlooked. These scenes are recomposed in his mind and become his personal attachment.
His works are really urban landscapes.
Lindslee, on his art:
"I apply how I think, feel and work to my art and mix and extend the capacity of materials to create new forms. I pick up ideas and designs that are not art, but I incorporate them into my art. That is why when I see an image or shape I say ‘Like your Style’ – the title of this painting."
Click for more works by Lindslee.
Tran Van Thao
I remember the black metal door depicted in this picture very well. It was painted in a solid shiny black; in another time the same metal door would be painted solid white. Both times, it had different startling effects.
Tran has no fear of colour or shape; he paints whatever that comes to mind in a subconscious manner.
Tran Van Thao, on his art:
"I find beauty in the unruliness of life and I express my awe of such unpredictability through abstract art.
… And when we open our eyes, we see many things: the sun, objects and people. When we close our eyes, we are disorientated by the shadows of what we have seen."
Click for more works by Tran Van Thao.
Tian Mangzi
Green is the new planet, and that this should be the ideal planet.Yellow represents gold and wealth, while red symbolises fire, courage, anger, stormy emotions, love and power.
Tian Mangzi, on his art:
"Human beings are gradually destroying the environment, the planet is polluted, and the rivers stink with garbage. I feel disappointed by all of these and I have no power to stop it."
‘The reason for painting apples was an impulse to overthrow the accursed world and then to create a new, beautiful, peaceful planet which belongs to everyone.”
Click for more works by Tian Mangzi.