Otomys Artists Recognised in Major Australian Art Exhibition; 'Turner & Australia'

Rebekah Stuart  —

 

Over the past 15 years particularly, when I capture fragments of the landscape through the camera, I click the shutter when I am hit most emotionally. The emotion that piques within me is often arrested by the polyphonic elements of landscape combined; how the light hits, sounds, forms and shapes that float into my own narratives, imagination, cravings or ponderings.

 

I always remember from early years of study that Turner had tied himself to a ship's mast for four hours in the midst of the storm. I relate to Turner's desire to feel the chaos of nature and its elements closely, as I create emotive dance films that respond directly to nature's forces. The photographs I took to create Scarlatti and the View were shot during fierce wind gales in the Scottish Highlands, which was part of the thrill in capturing a moment of pure awe as my body moved through the climate. 

 

 

Turner left us a great legacy in his lucid and intimate dealings with prismatic worlds of light and in his ardent desire to convey the extraordinary and terrible beauty of nature. He clearly loved making art and captured the essence of the subject with such energy and liberation that he gave us a new way of seeing - the approach of one who looks without being seen with an invitation to connect with the world through our gaze. 

 

As observers we share his consciousness of the sublime in nature; how evanescent light and the intensity of a hue can move us to tears or to hiraeth – that sense of nostalgic longing for something or someone that may no longer be accessible; compelling us to find the significance of it to ourselves, in a medium comparable to its effect. 

 

Perhaps in art fields love is interchangeable with light? Across fields of exploration in painting and drawing, light is comparable to love - an observable, powerful, prismatic artefact that we are capable of perceiving yet did not invent. 

 

Transcending dimensions of time and space, qualities and quantities of light bring shimmering waves of colour to our eyes and fields of atmospheric impressions to our minds of shared connections, ancestral places, dreams and memories. 

 

And dreams, like the multifaceted forms of art and nature, offer a compelling glimpse into other dimensions and multiple worlds to explore and engage with across all mediums. 

 

 

 

In my own work, I resonate with this approach throw exploring similar themes of emotional nuance and ambiguity. Instead of focusing on a clear, defined subject, I delve into creating an atmosphere that evokes a visceral response. Like Turner, I use abstraction of form—whether through visual ambiguity or subtle narrative shifts—to engage the audience’s own emotions and interpretations, fostering a connection that goes beyond the literal.

 

This focus on the emotional power of landscapes—whether through light, shadow, or texture—creates space for interpretation and reflection, allowing the viewer to experience the work in a personal way.

 

 

A blurred vision.

 

“it was not the storm itself that Turner intended to paint. What he intended to paint was a representation of the storm”

David Markson, Wittgenstein’s Mistress

 

I was asked by Otomys to describe how my work resonates with Turners Techniques, this is an impossible task, as impossible as being asked to disentangle the parts that have combined in forming my work once it is printed.

 

Intuitively, when making my art, I am describing the internal and external emotional worlds of myself and nature. The completed image, I hope, intrigues the viewer to enter the work and be immersed. 

 

The immersive experience is the quality that continues to draw me into Turner’s work enticing me to the energy, danger and sublime beauty of his familiar melody.