The exhibition is held at Community Bank, 11 Little Pier Street, Haymarket NSW 2009

Artist Statement – Christine Read 

This examination of the genres of landscape and still life draws its title from the idea of looking at or into a subject or an artwork. I often find myself wondering how an artist came to view a particular landscape or other pictorial object and how this influenced their art practice. For many years now I have painted what I see before me, particularly when painting outside, en plein air, and I use as still life subjects, objects and flora that exist in the real world, as opposed to a photograph. 

I consider my point of view carefully and move around the subject matter to find the most appealing aspect such as  the search for an unusual composition. and in some cases a breakdown of form to create an interesting disturbance in the view. I then put paint to surface immediately and start by marking down the most important view points from my perspective. 

The colour choice of the ground is integral to my practice. I use the colour of the surface sometimes the natural white, sometimes painted in a variety of tones to create the first layer of the painting. In this instance it is possible to then use the ground as negative space, by letting it show through in various areas.

 In my work colour and line express the atmosphere and my emotions experienced in that place, often choosing pinks in amongst the olive greens in my landscapes and yellows in my still life.  

I see olives and pinks as the primary colours in the Australian bush and yellow is such a happy colour and is probably inspired by Van Gogh and William Turner, artists that I see as having broken new ground in their manner of ‘seeing’ a subject from their own particular point of view and who used a great deal of yellow in their work.

My paintings also explore the use of surface texture through an accumulation of layered acrylic paint to express my experience of the subject in a painterly manner. There are often large brush strokes, as well as broken and diagonal marks which give an impression of movement and create an interesting visual disturbance in the artwork.