OPENING NIGHT – Tuesday, 4 March 2025 6pm – 8pm
ARTIST TALK
Saturday 15 March 2pm
Printmaker and painter Graham Fransella has long navigated the figure in the landscape, paring back his subjects to essential outlines that hint at an elemental humanity, a vulnerability. His stark, vivid depictions create grand gestural images that flirt with abstraction through a minimal palette. When painting figures, he blocks them in black over yellow, embracing commitment and speed, and will often turn the canvas to reveal new perspectives. ‘After an outburst, you start to hunt the image down’, he says, describing his technique of slashing with a palette knife and employing various strategies to manipulate his medium. ‘Through desperation, you go through hell trying to make it work … and then you must live with yourself.’
Fransella’s recent work, however, also leans towards the non-figurative, the marks themselves becoming the focal point. It is the freedom of the marks that he looks for, highlighting a lack of self-consciousness that speaks to authentic expression. He embraces chance and accident, viewing them as essential to the life of the work.
– Excerpt from essay Graham Fransella: reflections
by Caroline Field, Curator, ACU Art Collection
Image above: Sue Anderson Back beach dune 2021 hand built raku ceramic vessel 49 x 20 x 20 cm Congratulations …
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