Artist Statements and Images

People have been drawing what they see for thousands of years, as we know from the evidence on rocks and in caves. Small children quickly learn the pleasure of making marks on a piece of paper, or in the sand. I have been making still life paintings and drawings my entire artistic life. I created my first formally composed picture of collected things when I was 15 and I haven’t stopped since. I’ve always been captivated by natural and man-made objects and the intrinsic characteristics that define them; reflections, shadows, patterns, colour. This series of paintings attempts to capture the essence of the objects portrayed, in their perfect, pared-back simplicity by focusing on and examining details of construction and by doing so, elevating even the most commonplace and pedestrian object to a thing of beauty. The works are all watercolour on paper-as fragile as the objects themselves.

The natural world and the constructed collide in the images; it is the joining of the two that allow for a balance of image to emerge.

Tiffanie Brown

“Photographer and historian alike are storytellers who must choose what to include and what to leave out, how close to stand to their subjects, how to frame their tales.”

Martha A. Sandweiss Professor of American studies and history at Amherst College.

I have always been drawn to the constructed object, particularly those abandoned. The fragile nature of made objects is a constant reminder of our impermanence and that sometimes their beauty is a result of neglect and the patina that is acquired through the process of aging. I have used black and white imagery as I enjoy the long tonal range and the abstract qualities that can be conveyed. Images of metal, wood, stone, plaster and water all recur. The Japanese idea of the perfection of imperfection has always seemed a sound way to view our existence-nothing lasts, nothing is finished and nothing is perfect. Photographic artists such as Brett Weston, Michael Kenna, Kenro Izu, Grant Mudford and Bill Brandt have all been influential. The images have been made across different countries and each requires long periods of searching and waiting to find the right combination of light and form. The images are all personally printed on archival cotton paper as it allows me the opportunity to control each stage of the process from concept to capture to print.

Peter Ranyard

I have been working conceptually in both my design and art practice for decades now. For this exhibition I wanted to simply concentrate on things too often overlooked and dismissed by our increasingly self-referential and insular culture.

We live in built environments, governed by technology. We visit nature in theme parks. The flora and fauna remaining around our daily lives have been reduced in our minds to decoration, architecture or pests. The siblings of the 50 year old pine and gum trees overshadowing my house are gradually being cut down all over our suburb, making way for transplanted ‘lifestyle’ palm trees.

Before they are all gone in order to further the utopian coastal reverie, it’s worth looking properly at some of these trees and the bird’s nests that used to be hosted in them and contemplate the skill and intelligence of the builders. We should be able to relate to these themes with ease, understanding that a nest can convey ideas inherent in our own lives; home, partnership, loss. It is my hope that in this way some viewers will find more empathy for the other living organisms around us.

I use a variety of techniques dealing with the image on paper. The work is produced in small editions of less than 10.

Peter Rohen


link to our page on the M16 Artspace website

http://www.m16artspace.com.au/exhibitions_and_events/beneath-the-surface


Wooden hand Tiffanie Brown, watercolour on paper 36 x 36cm

Pier in fog Peter Ranyard, archival photographic print on rag paper 45 x 30cm

Seedpods Peter Rohen, etching on rag paper 15cm x 15cm