Past Exhibition

Art on Demand 2.4

Artists Chelsea Brown & Rachael Gingell and Curated by Chantal New
Nov 24, 2016
to
Jan 08, 2017
EXHIBITION

The only thing constant about the natural world is change. It is in constant flux, uncontrollable and mysterious. Throughout history, artists have attempted to translate these immeasurable and mutable qualities, to contain and reproduce the rare sense of wonder we can experience in our natural surroundings. Using remarkably different approaches, Art on Demand artists Rachael Gingell and Chelsea Brown capture moments in which they have had meaningful experiences with a particular landscape. Whether, the highlands of Scotland or the foggy coasts of the Gulf Islands, these vast, atmospheric landscapes and seascapes proclaim an encounter with the unknowable through the contemplation of nature. Brown and Gingell utilize the brush and the lens as a means of knowing and containing the raw, formidable landscapes that surround them.

A study in the abstraction of nature, Gingell’s paintings evoke a sense of the ocean as a spiritual place. Her paintings, so minimal they are reminiscent of Rothko’s colour field paintings, present us with a simplified view of the landscape. They reference foggy Pacific coastlines and suggest an endlessness horizon that extends far beyond the edge of the canvas.

By contrast, the intentional framing of the landscape in Brown’s photographs offers us a highly composed view of a specific point in the landscape. Her immersive images speak to the undeniable draw of the land and the emotive possibilities embodied by of the natural environment. When confronted by the immensity of the geography captured in her work we are struck by our relative insignificance.

Brown and Gingell present us with two different approaches to the representation of the sublime in nature. In both bodies of work, landscape is mediated by the artists’ tools and in an attempt to capture the universality of human experience tied to landscape. The works offer us a glimpse of the transcendent that is in some ways is an act of preservation; preservation of a moment, an experience, and of the land itself.

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