OPENING NIGHT Tuesday 12 May 6pm to 8pm
I don’t think it is necessary to paint en plein air to make meaningful paintings. So much of the work I love, current and historic, is or was made in the studio, from reference material, memory and sensation. However, in my own practice (for now) it seems vital. It is a deep joy and privilege to stand in the bush each day, to simply attend to all that there is and all that arises. The act of painting that experience necessitates an attentive curiosity, a kind of loving that affords a deep experience of each particular form, the manner and nature of how each interlaces with those around it, how they are revealed in the particular light or air. Painting that attending feels like palpating the forms, the air, the light - such a delight! I work across the day, usually over many days or months. Over time the painting makes its own demands; conveys what light, colour, form and structure need to take precedence. There is no constancy - light, forms, the temperature of the air and thoughts shift. What remains is the residue of attending, an accumulation of attempts to convey something of being present in each moment.
- Mary Tonkin, 2026
