Seeing Things
Hans Arp the German painter wrote a poem about a horse sitting up in a railway carriage with rows of sex buttons gleaming on his chest. Such things are readily noticed as they do not usually happen. In a Lyn Harrison painting such an event would hardly raise an eyebrow.
We all see the world in a different way. If you take notice of the oval of vision that hangs in front of your nose, which shows you the world as it is for you at this moment, and you pass a considerable voltage of psychic energy through it until it begins to change, you might get an approximation of how Lyn Harrison sees the world. The colours would intensify and yet remain harmonious; the limbs and hands of the people would stretch like plasticine according to the energy of the pose; conventional perspective is replaced by psychological perspective where the important things are given their due; anxieties and hopes take on symbolic form, a pink house, a growling dog, a prancing horse;and a cast of characters might appear worthy of a Shakespeare and Samuel Beckett play combined.
Lyn's latest show is a collection of twenty five acrylic paintings appropriately called Seeing Things. The themes vary from outback landscapes derived from a recent trip to Broken Hill; to scenes of domestic contentment, and a delight in the streets and environment of Katoomba; plus a hint of warning in such paintings as Spare Parts, in which a small lonely woman collects arms and legs in a wheelbarrow, while a large dark cloud hovers overhead. We are not sure if the industrious woman is cleaning up after an event, or whether she is making a collection of spare limbs for people who may shortly need them, but the mood is an ominous one.
As though in answer to this threat the painting On the Road seems a defiant gesture of affirmation. Here we have Lyn's visual alter ego setting out with nothing but her violin and she is taking her house with her on the back of her favourite steed. When the artist/troubadour is connected to the creative source nothing more is needed, all else is an impediment.The painting poses the question in these unprecedented times, of: when it comes down to it what do you really own? what do you really need?
As in all of Lyn Harrison's work these paintings pose a series of visual puzzles. Some are more overt such as the humorous.....Usually I Walk to Town but Sometimes I Take the Dog. Others are expressions of sheer delight such as Dancing at Night and In the Same Boat. All of them have an authenticity and originality which is unique in the contemporary art world and which adds another layer to an already distinguished career.
Seeing Things will open at the Nolan on Lovel Gallery on Saturday March 4 . You are invited to join the artist for drinks 2-4pm
Edwin Johnson
Nolan on Lovel Gallery
56A Lovel St Katoomba NSW 2780
t:02 47826231
e:gallery@nolanonlovel.com.au
w:nolanonlovelgallery.com.au
We all see the world in a different way. If you take notice of the oval of vision that hangs in front of your nose, which shows you the world as it is for you at this moment, and you pass a considerable voltage of psychic energy through it until it begins to change, you might get an approximation of how Lyn Harrison sees the world. The colours would intensify and yet remain harmonious; the limbs and hands of the people would stretch like plasticine according to the energy of the pose; conventional perspective is replaced by psychological perspective where the important things are given their due; anxieties and hopes take on symbolic form, a pink house, a growling dog, a prancing horse;and a cast of characters might appear worthy of a Shakespeare and Samuel Beckett play combined.
Lyn's latest show is a collection of twenty five acrylic paintings appropriately called Seeing Things. The themes vary from outback landscapes derived from a recent trip to Broken Hill; to scenes of domestic contentment, and a delight in the streets and environment of Katoomba; plus a hint of warning in such paintings as Spare Parts, in which a small lonely woman collects arms and legs in a wheelbarrow, while a large dark cloud hovers overhead. We are not sure if the industrious woman is cleaning up after an event, or whether she is making a collection of spare limbs for people who may shortly need them, but the mood is an ominous one.
As though in answer to this threat the painting On the Road seems a defiant gesture of affirmation. Here we have Lyn's visual alter ego setting out with nothing but her violin and she is taking her house with her on the back of her favourite steed. When the artist/troubadour is connected to the creative source nothing more is needed, all else is an impediment.The painting poses the question in these unprecedented times, of: when it comes down to it what do you really own? what do you really need?
As in all of Lyn Harrison's work these paintings pose a series of visual puzzles. Some are more overt such as the humorous.....Usually I Walk to Town but Sometimes I Take the Dog. Others are expressions of sheer delight such as Dancing at Night and In the Same Boat. All of them have an authenticity and originality which is unique in the contemporary art world and which adds another layer to an already distinguished career.
Seeing Things will open at the Nolan on Lovel Gallery on Saturday March 4 . You are invited to join the artist for drinks 2-4pm
Edwin Johnson
Nolan on Lovel Gallery
56A Lovel St Katoomba NSW 2780
t:02 47826231
e:gallery@nolanonlovel.com.au
w:nolanonlovelgallery.com.au
