Paintings exhibited at the Fleurieu Arthouse in an exhibition with painter Louise Vadasz.

Fleurieu Arthouse, Hardys Tintara, 202 Main Road, McLaren Vale SA

17 Feb. - 17 March, 2024 

Artist Statement

“This exhibition features my most recent paintings of life size vases and small sea-side landscapes painted in quite a soft and figurative style alongside a selection of earlier works painted in a much more hard edged and abstracted geometric style. 

In the vase series, inspired by the Italian painter Giorgio Morandi, my aim was to create very simple calming paintings in which just the vase itself takes centre stage. Spotlit and drenched in colour and light, I wanted to also allow the shadow of the vase to share in the spotlight and become an integral part of the composition.  

In all my paintings I very much focus on where lines meet and the forms and spaces they create, this is especially evident in the small seaside landscapes. 

The two architectural paintings were inspired by the forms of Mies van der Rohe’s Barcelona Pavilion and Oscar Niemeyer’s Palace of Dawn. The simple minimalist forms and strong horizontal lines found within both buildings form a starting point for the work. In the paintings I have also played with the idea of architectural reflections in which the reflection is not as it actually should be. In Mies a ghost house within-a-house does not appear in the reflection below. In Oscar the colours of each floor are reversed. 

The 9 colourful landscapes were created in a collaboration with my partner, artist and designer Slade Smith. These works feature the lyrical geometry of Slade’s graphic drawing style that I have painted in a very zen-like manner of straight horizontal lines that form textured planes of soft tinted hues. Hopefully, imbuing each work with its own simple balance and calming rhythm of colour and form.”

Greg Clarke, 2024