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Judith Sutton - "Purple and Shine" |
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Friday 14th to Sunday 23rd - at the Escape Gallery |
Escape Gallery
1 Brisbane Street
Murwillumbah
escapeart.com.au
Judith Sutton - "Purple and Shine"
Exhibition of Works in Pastel
Sunday 26th July to Wednesday 2nd September
This exhibition explores the shimmer of light and shadow, Purple and Shine, as a metaphysical metaphor: a struggle of the soul with the vicissitudes of life and the facing of death.
Or the purple patches and the shining hours if you like!
Reconnecting with Western art, Judith Sutton is aware of still life as an inquiry into what lies beyond mere things.
Few now know the symbolic meanings once attributed to various flowers in Europe and no symbolism known exists for the plants of this country.
So we are left with emotional responses and personal anecdotes and the sneaking suspicion that there is something beyond that.
These still life pastels were shaped by events arising from Judith Sutton`s recovery from a serious illness and reaffirmation of life, just as her aged mother was relinquishing life and preparing to die.
The bonding of daughter and mother, the passing on of worldly possessions and the power of emotions they evoke by association became the reason to be of the later works.
Arrangements of flowers in vases and the clutter of domestic life can also express the sheer joy of being alive.
Flowers in our culture are present at parties, weddings, funerals, hospitals and nursing homes and evoke the pasting seasons and the place where they are grown.
They ease our comings and goings.
Bunches of flowers become tokens of relationship with family and friends.
In fact, the artist would like to acknowledge friendship with master pastelist Trish Callaghan and pastel artist Rosalind Trathen as several works in this exhibition resulted from drawing sessions in each other`s studios using plant material from each other`s gardens and each other`s objet d`art.
This drawing together confirmed the powerful associations present in long held possessions passed down and cared for by generations of women.
Judith dedicates this exhibition to Purple and Shine, her imaginary friends so early in life that she only knows of them from her mother.
Entertainment by Jed Stone on keyboard.
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