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

News

A sincere congratulations to these Otomys artists - Greg Wood, Rebekah Stuart, Sophia Szilagyi and Zoe Amor - for being selected to exhibit alongside Gippsland Art Gallery's 'Turner & Australia' exhibition. 

'Turner & Australia' is the first major exhibition to survey the profound influence of J.M.W. Turner on Australian art.

'A journey through two centuries of epic landscape painting, this unique and compelling exhibition explores both the timing of Turner’s major artistic breakthroughs, which coincided with the development and origins of a school of art in Australia, and his continuing influence on artists working in Australia today.

 

The exhibition draws a line of influence from Turner’s contemporary John Glover, who migrated to Australia in 1831, aged 64, through to cutting edge contemporary art, and includes within its orbit those who have worked consciously within Turner’s legacy, and those for whom his influence is unintentional and the result of an inherited tradition of European-derived landscape art.

 

Turner & Australia draws together key works by Turner from Australian public collections, presented alongside a diverse chronology of Australian art that has arisen from the generations that have followed in his path. Included amongst original works by Turner are key works by Australian luminaries such as Eugene von Guérard, Frederick McCubbin, Tom Roberts, Arthur Streeton, Clarice Beckett, Jessie Traill, Lloyd Rees, Tracey Moffatt, Tony Smibert, and Valerie Sparks.

 

This unforgettable exhibition is complemented by a substantial publication of original and ground-breaking research that comprehensively examines the depth and breadth of Turner’s influence on Australian art. Through the different facets of the project, of significant artworks and new research, Turner & Australia presents a new perspective on the story of Australian art.

 

Whether visitors are new to Turner, or have long been under his spell, Turner & Australia will enthral all through the vitality, scope, and sheer awe-inspiring power of his art, and the art of those that have followed in his wake.'  — words by Gippsland Art Gallery, 2025. 

 

Purchase tickets to 'Turner & Australia' online here

May 1, 2025
  • Rebekah Stuart — Do you see parallels between your process and Turner’s ability to evoke deep emotional responses, creating a...

    Selected work — Rebekah Stuart, Scarlatti and the View, Archival Pigmet Print, Limited Edition 7 ,

    Image: 85.48 x 57.83cm, Paper: 106 x 79.6cm

    Rebekah Stuart  —
    Do you see parallels between your process and Turner’s ability to evoke deep emotional responses, creating a space for introspection through the natural world?
     
    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. 
     
    View Available Work by Rebekah Stuart 
  • Zoe Amor — How does Turner's portrayal of nature’s force connect with your own exploration of the emotional and spiritual...

    Selected work — Zoe Amor, Not yet bereft of wildness and wet, Pencil, Pastel, Graphite and Dam Water on Paper, 56.5 x 76.5cm, Oak Wax Frame 

    & Not Yet Bereft of Wildness and Wet, Pencil, Pastel, Graphite and Dam Water on Paper, 56.5 x 76.5 cm

    Zoe Amor —
    How does Turner's portrayal of nature’s force connect with your own exploration of the emotional and spiritual dimensions of the natural world?
     
    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. 
     
    View Available Work by Zoe Amor 
  • Greg Wood — How do you see Turner’s exploration of ambiguity and emotional depth in his landscapes resonating with your...

    Selected work — Greg Wood, V27 Reimagining, Oil on Linen, 78 x 114cm

    Greg Wood  —
    How do you see Turner’s exploration of ambiguity and emotional depth in his landscapes resonating with your own work?
     
    Turner’s exploration of ambiguity and emotional depth in his landscapes is a powerful and evocative aspect of his work. His ability to blend light, colour, and atmosphere creates a sense of vastness and emotion that transcends mere representation of nature. By using technique to create a fluid sense of ambiguity, he invites the viewer to engage emotionally with the scene, rather than merely observe it.
     
    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.
     
    View Available Work by Greg Wood 
  • Sophia Szilagyi — How does your work exploring human emotion in nature resonate with Turner’s techniques? A blurred vision. “it...

    Selected works — Sophia Szilagyi, Warm Winds I, Archival Pigment Print, Limited Edition 10, 110 x 111cm (Closed Edition) 

    & Warm Winds II, Archival Pigment Print,  Limited Edition 10, 110 x 113cm

    & Evening Waves, Archival Pigment Print, Limited Edition 3, 450 x 127cm

    Sophia Szilagyi  —
    How does your work exploring human emotion in nature resonate with Turner’s techniques? 
     
    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.
     
    View Available Work by Sophia Szilagyi