INDIGENOUS LAND by RICHARD TABAKA
The digital Gicleé prints on artist canvasses, presented in this exhibition, highlight some of the unique aspects of the iconic Australian outback and reveals in a surprising manner the inimitable way to re-present or challenge concepts of traditional landscape artwork and investigate a more conceptual and non-representational, abstracted version.
Abstract art does not attempt to define or represent an external reality, but strives to accomplish this effect by employing colour, form and gestural marks. Tabaka’s landscapes as seen from the sky, transform the dominant, identifying features and characteristics of the landscape. Landmarks recognisable when viewed from a ground plain level are radically changed when viewed from “above”. They are reduced visually to marks that look like painted brushstrokes and dots, with large areas of intense colour broken by linear marks.
In the latest works, originally inspired by beauty, mystery and the spirituality of reality, images have been digitally manipulated and altered to change colours or key features within the composition creating even more personal interpretation of Australian landscape.
Indigenous Landscape creates an illusory world of blurred boundaries between landscape, creative imagination, documentation and fiction. The graphics transcend a normal and expected view of Australian landscape, leaving reality almost illegible. In its place are abstracted artworks that a viewer can visually read in a number of different personal ways. They will provoke questions and discourse, while potentially creating a sense of spirituality and connection to the land.
© 2021 Copyrights Richard Tabaka