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What Now?
Artist Profile July 2010
Jane O'Sullivan
What have you been working on lately and what can we expect from your forthcoming exhibition?
I have been working on a new series of paintings – primarily paintings that engage specifically with the clarity of light in Western Australia, the colours of the land mass and the oceans adjacent to this area. The paintings reflect upon the subtle nuances of this unique part of the continent, and evoke an atmospheric light and direct the viewers understanding of how we perceive our natural environment. The process has been an ongoing interest based on earlier field trips and exhibitions held in WA.
What question do you most often get asked about work? And how do usually answer it?
The most common questions is “how long did it take you to paint each picture?” or “do you airbrush your paintings?” Primarily I try to avoid answering both questions as it distracts from the painting itself. Firstly, I make my paintings sequentially. I allow two months from beginning to the end of completion before they leave my studio. Secondly, I paint with brushes and use vicious linseed oil medium called stand oil, which was the common medium of renaissance painters.
How do you feel your interests have changed since you started exhibiting in the late 1980’s?
My early interests were more involved with experimentation and exploring paint technology and materials. My approach to a certain extent has always been formal and the visual language of my work has been primarily concerned with abstraction with an emphasis on light and colour. Throughout the 1990’s I experimented and constructed artworks from CD boxes. These works were comprised of spray paint, pigment, oil colour, masking tape and Perspex and often dealt with architectonic concerns. In the late 1990s I resumed oil painting, initially using mixed media and stencils and material associated with earlier works. My current oeuvre started in early 2000 and over the past 10 years the paintings have become more honed and refined. In essence my practice is relatively cyclical in nature. I often return to earlier conceptual applications and redefine these processes by different means, whether it be in painting, design or architecture.
Where do go for inspiration?
My inspiration remains varied and ever changing in regards to my art practice as a whole. Though in the past 10 years I have been exploring the Australian continent, namely remote areas of flora and fauna, estuarine and oceanic environments. In he past 12 months I have been exploring and collecting visual data from Western Australia, mainly areas north of Broome and coastal forests in Southern Ocean between Victoria and South Australia, which consisted of over 200 nautical miles. These field trips will be part of the subjectivity of my next exhibition.