The lyrical splendour of the Australian bush is captured in Dan Kyle’s painterly mark. Hovering somewhere between figuration and abstraction, his landscapes play with surface and texture to recreate the majesty and intrigue of the dense scrub that surrounds his Blue Mountains studio.
Using a proliferation of marks and tones, Kyle builds his work into forms of interacting colour that mimic the movement and inherent beauty of the natural landscape. Painting en plain air, his preference for working in the early morning and late afternoon is evident in his attention to light and shadow, and sophisticated rendering of the sun’s glow on the gum trees around him. The effect of this light play is almost reverential; an ethereal response to the awe-inspiring and often intimidating bushland that envelops him.
Dan Kyle is a graduate of the National Art School in Sydney. He is a three-time finalist of the Paddington Art Prize (2019, 2015, 2012 – Highly Commended), the NSW Parliament Plein Air Painting Prize (2016 – highly commended), the Salon des Refuses at S.H. Ervin Gallery (2013), the Hawkesbury Art Prize (2011) and the Mosman Art Prize (2019, 2014). His work has been exhibited throughout Australia in numerous solo and group shows and is held in the collection of the Australian Catholic University and many private collections nationally.
Carrie McCarthy
Image: Just Before Dawn II, 2019, oil and mixed media on board, 60 x 60 cm.
