Winter in Melbourne - Art for the Hanging

If you spend a lot of time inside during winter staring at walls, not only do you go stir crazy, but eventually it comes to you that you should buy some art to hang.

And in winter, that means to me, landscapes.

I love the look of a landscape hanging in a pristine room, like this. In fact I just love everything about this room, but mostly its tranquillity and the fact that the painting is allowed to speak, without needing to shout. 

(via Remodelista)

This is Vincent D'Onofrio's 5 storey townhouse, decorated by Jan Eleni.  If you can't have a gilded mirror above your fireplace, I think a moody landscape does just as well, if not better. 

And these are some of my current favourite (living) landscape painters.  This is by Darren Gannon, represented by Libby Edwards.   The thing about landscape painting is that you cannot skate by on poor technique or low quality materials.  It really shows up your skills.  

Early Start  -  2010  (oil on canvas)

This is by Geoff Dyer, a very well regarded Tasmanian painter.    Aim high, and you too can have a Dyer.   He is not a cheap artist.   But look at the depth, and indeed, emotion of that stormy sea. 

Climate 1 (2009)

These little ones (not a triptych, maybe a nono-tych) are by Jennifer Shears and you can find them here on Etsy.   Aren't they exquisite?   All the different cloud moods are represented.  

This is by Alexander Mackenzie, an Australian artist about whom I have previously written.  

The Third Island (2009) 0il on linen

Here is another Jennifer Shears.

And these are by Swedish artist Peter Freis. I am indebted to Monika at Splendid Willow for alerting me to this wonderful artist. Born in 1947 (just like Geoff Dyer), he is represented by this gallery in Stockholm.   

I hope you all have a serene Tuesday.

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Evocative Alexander McKenzie Landscapes

Alexander McKenzie is an Australian landscape artist who was born in Sydney in 1971. His work is beautiful and evocative, in a world where excellent modern landscapes are in very short supply. And up close and in real life, I can assure you that they are even better.

According to Axia Modern Art, who has a current exhibition of his work, his paintings are:

as much evocations of mood, weather and the subconscious as they are depictions of actual place. His unique and powerfully innovative visions of lakesides, gardens and sunsets are hauntingly powerful scenes that continue their subtle break away from the more literal representation of landscape, towards a presentation of the imagined. McKenzie is concerned with the emotional power of beauty and uses landscape as his vehicle for expression.

To me, his work is slightly surreal, and conveys what it might feel like to be transported to a 1790s countryside but retain one's 2009 sensibility - slightly dreamlike but with a feeling that there is something out there in that beautiful landscape which might be a bit sinister.

This painting is called Sun Striking Sandbank.

You can see his exhibition online here or at Axia in High Street, Armadale.

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