Weather Patterns is a group show that umbrellas three Australian artists. All three artists work in the realms of abstract painting, reflecting the vagaries of weather and the extremities of our landscape: Rosella Namok from Cape York – tropical, wet season impressions; Matthew Johnson from Melbourne – atmospheric, subdued expressions light; and Ronnie Tjampitjinpa of the Western Desert – primal marks, ancient and iconic stories.
Director Michael Eather, who has assembled the three artists together, has often commented on how Indigenous and non-Indigenous artists sometimes cross over via the subtleties of their respective visual vernaculars. Weather is a universal phenomenon, as is the language of paint.
The works of Namok and Tjampitjinpa are sometimes compared on an aesthetic level, but their geography could not be more different. The comparisons stem from the shared magnificent rain stories, inspired by their Indigenous origins. Johnson sums up his recent selections as “my work emulates an abstract environment based upon variables in nature and the manmade. Weather remains the kinetic makeup of the atmosphere.”
The three artists assembled together within Weather Patterns imbue the diversity of Australian light and atmosphere, and the embedded stories we all share.
Image: Rosella Namok: Lowtide…Salmon Season
