THE GOLSPIE PAINTINGS

I'm seeking the balance between what is visible on the outside, environmentally, and what is felt inside, subconsciously. I think this is where the work is. To feel physically and mindfully present.

From a hayshed on Gundungurra Country, rural NSW, I have made a series of works deeply connected to the land on which they were created.

THE GOLSPIE PAINTINGS balance subconscious mark-making with a contemplative response, enlivened by painting in an open landscape. These works are primarily action paintings, where instinct mates with intention as the paint is laid down with frenetic urgency. Working predominantly on the ground, the pictures evolve intuitively; the visual cues from interconnecting bushland paddocks, peppered with dams, wild fauna, and wandering cattle, converge with spontaneous mark-making to form an energised, abstracted sense of place.

There is a raw and honest energy in working plein air that connects me to the environment on a deeper, more genuine level. The act of painting moves from a wrestle to a dance with the world around me, balancing endless possibilities while staying focused on the moment and celebrating the physicality of painting.

The paintings emerge intuitively, directed by the environment. Oftentimes, layers of marks are applied, left to settle, and then washed away to reveal traces of their form and process. This allows the marks to converge with previous layers of mark-making, evolving towards the fuller picture. Dry grass or hay may get blown onto the surface and stick to the washes of paint. Sometimes, I'll face the wet canvas towards the ground, drag it across the earth to further connect the layers of paint to the location. The loose grass or earth picked up through this process may stick or brush off when dry. The resulting image becomes partly a print of the land on which it was made.

Each painting takes on its own character, poised between the environmental elements dictated by light and weather at the time and my immediate emotive response as a human making them. My painting is not inherently representational, and to mimic is not my intention. I'm not looking to portray the landscape but to represent how it makes me feel through gesture and action while working on a larger scale. By allowing the energy of the environment to dictate my actions, I hope to somehow, through a metaphysical outpouring of subconscious mark-making, arrive at an outcome that's complementary to the landscape.

Physicality and movement catalyse my work. I'm increasingly interested in the physicality of mark-making and how I can abstractly draw out the energy of being a human moving through and experiencing nature.

Here, days of sparse human interaction and escape from irrelevant media lead to an undistracted and realistic focus on place, giving way to mindful discovery in unison with the natural environment.

This is action painting in the landscape, and I must remain unrestrained yet not complacent to achieve the raw aesthetic I'm hunting for. These are not just hedonistic landscape experiences; there is a stoic duty in these works, made not so much as an indulgence but driven by a necessity to make them.

Painted respectfully on Gundungurra Country, NSW. For any enquiries, please get in touch.

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