Alex Thorby – Echoes of Sea and Sky Exhibition
Artist statement
My work for this series is based around working en plein air, capturing views from the memorial chairs that line the coast from Manly to Palm Beach. When walking along our coast you can’t help but happen upon these chairs. They are sited in places that have significance to someone and of someone. They are symbols of love and memory. I found the chairs also act as a place to sit, pause, reflect and contemplate life and nature. In these paintings, using light, colour, and mark making, I explore how nature can be seen as a space for contemplation. This series was painted over many months and through four seasons and I wanted to acknowledge the temporality of time and the changing seasons and how in a way this parallels life itself.
Through a friend I will be connecting with Northern Beaches suicide watch group and I acknowledge a duty of care must be taken regarding the sensitive nature of some of the chairs. They meet once a month and hopefully my exhibition can support them.
I found it to be such a lovely, meaningful, community project, as locals out walking engaged with me and told me stories behind some of the seats. Each work is titled after the quote on the chair of that view.
Event Details:
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Date of the exhibition: Wednesday 25th September – Sunday 6th October
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Official opening: Saturday 28th September 2-4pm
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Location: Michael Reids Northern Beaches Gallery – 2/358 Barrenjoey Rd, Newport. Check gallery website for opening hours or ph 8353 3505.
