Born in Albury NSW, Elynor Smithwick is an Australian painter living and working in Melbourne VIC. Elynor completed her Undergraduate and Honours Degree in Fine Arts at Victorian College of the Arts from 2016 – 2019. Elynor received The Buller Arts Residency Award in 2019 and The Macfarlane Fund Residency Award in 2020.
Elynor’s work centres around the transitory nature of existence. In her paintings she reframes and rebirths perished realities to reveal contemplative narratives. Inspired by the gentle quality of film stills, Elynor adopts particular techniques to control her oil paints. By layering translucent washed-out colours, her practice takes on an a wistful sentiment. Endeavouring to find movement and action within pre-existing, personal photographs, Elynor builds on their original content. As such, finality and transience exist within a single painting.
Elynor’s exhibition – I Haven’t Seen The Moon Tonight – was painted during a time of lockdown and social restriction. This period is both consciously and subconsciously reflected in the paintings. Through isolated figures positioned in outdoor landscapes and open windows, Elynor infers a sense of yearning and meditative contemplation.
The twelve paintings in the series are in communication with one another through subtle shifts in location; finding collective harmony through their solitary status.
