On "The Heysen Trail"

As writing this, I am looking at a little Hans Heysen landscape that has been in the family for a long while. From the beginning when Russell mentioned this exhibition to me it has been special and close to my heart.

I have always painted ‘en plein air’ and in this exhibition and creating these works I wanted to stay in touch with the lyrical, convey a real sense of place and perhaps journey. I am often drawn to water, which may explain the seascape and Rock Pools.

The approach I use is a very traditional vertical approach - I visit the site, do some drawings/studies, photograph, then take these to  the studio to work up studies (some of which studies are in the show), revisit studies to work up  larger works.

The Gouaches in this exhibition appeal to me as I frequently work in the ‘still life’ genre, my only regret is not doing more in this medium and form however, the landscapes took priority.

Artist's Statement
I have painted crowds for some years, partly because it returns me to figuration and humanity, and partly because crowds allow great pictorial possibilities. As subjects they have an almost kinetic energy.

Organic in character, they gradually fill the space and as they form on the canvas, the inhabitants set up relationships, movements, passages. In some of these paintings you can see tributes and influences.

Many are painted directly from the subject within the Realist Tradition, in the others the lack of traditional perspective allows for assertive colour harmonies or associations of patterns and elements within the cubist tradition.

Such studio works involve a more intellectual conception of space and form but are still based firmly on observation and draughtsmanship. Paintings such as 'Two Shops, Bonds Road' reassemble elements of a pizza shop and a tattoo parlour to convey a certain urban Australian swagger.

Most of these works develop themes and subjects begun long ago and if I mention such artists as Cezanne, Matisse, Braque and Picasso it is because, among others they revitalised these subjects and revisited them spectacularly. By great good fortune I was encouraged by fine teachers to try my own hand at translation.
Harry Sherwin 06