KD De Silva and Jonathan Bentley

KD De SilvaKD De Silva’s new exhibition continues his intriguing look into Urbanscapes and life’s journey. His evolving artworks depict a contrasting scene of 2 worlds, that of the calmness within the journey compared to that of the outside world and where the journey is headed. The stillness within is compared to the hustle and bustle of daily life of the city yet to be entered.

KD’s artwork portrays a perspective of typical Brisbane scenes with an attention to detail highlighting the overlooked. He interprets the way light plays on and around the scene with reflections drawing the eye to different aspects of the everyday and the details that may never have been noticed before.

“A painting hanging upon the wall is a final result, it may have taken a lifetime of learning, practice and work to create but all that is experienced by most is the end product. The same is true for so much in life, the excitement, nervousness or expectation of a journey about to begin leaves little room for thoughts of the work done unseen to make the once impossible into a modern reality.
It’s the groundwork that lets us fly….” – KD De Silva

 

“On recently reading The Man Who Planted Trees by Jean Giono, I learned the French word ‘esperance’ means ‘hope’ and in Giono’s words, hope through our connection to nature. Also, over the last year I have had the good fortune to see some 17th Century Dutch vanitas flower paintings and to be inspired by their beauty and detail and the idea of painting the transience of life with flora and fauna and decay. I found these themes really interesting and moving at a time when our own connection to the natural word is a cause for much concern. Ultimately, being an optimist I chose esperance.

In terms of my work practise, this exhibition continues my interest in mark making through gauging or etching the surface of the board I work on. I find this a challenging and exciting  as I am never fully in control of the lines and marks I make.
And then there is the moment when I cover the whole painting with a layer of black printing ink and at that moment I wonder….have I just lost everything? But slowly as I start to rub back the ink, form dark  the painting starts to emerge in a very different light.

I never really know how my paintings are going to turn out, there is that exciting moment which is part of the part of the process I love and why I work the way I do.” – Jonathan Bentley