Title

Martin King: First rain: Works on paper.

Venues

King Street Gallery On Burton [2]. (2003 – 2003)

Span Galleries (2003 – 2003)

Port Jackson Press [Gallery] (17 September 2003 – 15 October 2003)

Date

(2003)

Summary

Single-artist exhibition. Located: Australia (VIC). Prints.

Country of context

Australia

Abstract

King’s subtle works create an open dialogue between indigenous and non-indigenous experiences of the land, rural and urban landscapes and nature and culture.

Flying over Northern Australia in past years to work with indigenous populations in the Kimberleys, Melville Island, and Arnhem Land, King has aerial perspectives of vast landscapes ingrained in his memory.  But these are not as remote and empty as first experienced; his careful observations have found rhythms and melodies in them as well.

King abstracts the effect of looking down on ancient, ‘natural’ landforms in huge expanses of dry, flat land.  His layering and repetition create a sense of vastness and capture the effect of the geological and/or human interventions that have taken place over time.  A ridge extends across the picture plain; wind blows dirt into striated patterns resembling ploughed fields; rock formations pierce the desert floor and create gridded, almost urban, patterns stretching for miles...

There are also moments of extraordinary, ethereal beauty as he observes patterns created by weather on the land below.  Clouds drifting across the enormous terrain create unusual spatial patterns and leave momentary stains; heat hazes create strange blurred lines…

King’s work with Aboriginal people has also given him a valuable insight into their sense of land.  This imbues his work a sense of understanding, of being there, in the heat; the vastness; the first rain of the season.

After years of dedication and observation, King successfully blends all of these perspectives to create a unique vision of the Australian landscape in this exhibition of recent works on paper, including two new works published by Port Jackson Press Australia. [PJP media]