Bridie Gillman’s Wide eyed has been made in response to her studio surroundings – the Tarragindi Recreation Reserve. Surrounded by gum trees and scrub, this is the first time she has experienced this type of landscape on a day-to-day basis. It is at once serene and beautiful to be isolated and surrounded by trees, but with isolation comes fear, highlighting that the bush holds a deep sense of the unknown for her. A process of close observation of her surroundings translated through colour, these paintings are an attempt to reconcile this disquiet.
Bridie Gillman is an alumna of Queensland College of Art, graduating with a Bachelor of Fine Art (First Class Honours) in 2013. She is a past finalist of the Redland Art Award, the MAMA National Photography Prize, Murray Art Museum Albury, and PRIZENOPRIZE, Gold Coast (all 2016), as well as The 2013 GAS Graduate Art Show, Griffith University Art Museum, Brisbane. Her work has been exhibited in solo and group exhibitions throughout Australia and internationally, including Metro Arts, Brisbane; The Walls, Gold Coast; Blindside, Melbourne and Run Amok, George Town, Malaysia, and she has undertaken residencies at Rimbun Dahan, George Town, Malaysia, in 2015 and Ketjil Bergerak, Yogyakarta, Indonesia, in 2014. In addition to her own art practice, Gillman is co-director of STABLE, a contemporary art space in Brisbane.
‘Taking It In’, An Essay By Kylie Spear 2019
Image: THE CLOUDS ARE DISAPPEARING, EVAPORATING INTO THE SKY 2018, oil on canvas, 100 x 125 cm
