Elynor Smithwick: I Haven’t Seen The Moon Tonight

26 August - 10 September 2020
  • Born in Albury NSW, Elynor Smithwick is an Australian painter living and working in Melbourne VIC. Elynor completed her Undergraduate...

    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...

     

    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.

  • ‘Usually I find my inspiration in small things, looking out windows,
    going on walks, returning somewhere, closing my eyes.’

     

     

     

     

    • A Land That Waits, A Place That Falls Oil on Canvas Original 30 x 40.5 cm $925 £460 SOLD
      A Land That Waits, A Place That Falls

      Oil on Canvas
      Original
      30 x 40.5 cm
      $925

      £460

      SOLD

    • Side by Side Oil on Canvas Original 29.5 x 42 cm $900 £450
      Side by Side

      Oil on Canvas
      Original
      29.5 x 42 cm
      $900

      £450

    • Adrift Oil on Canvas Original 39.5 x 50.5 cm $895 £450 SOLD
      Adrift

      Oil on Canvas
      Original
      39.5 x 50.5 cm
      $895

      £450

      SOLD

    • Cinematic Carriage Oil on Canvas Original 60 x 69 cm $1435 £720 SOLD
      Cinematic Carriage

      Oil on Canvas
      Original
      60 x 69 cm
      $1435

      £720

      SOLD

    • Centring Oil on Canvas Original 60 x 69 cm $1435 £720 SOLD
      Centring

      Oil on Canvas
      Original
      60 x 69 cm
      $1435

      £720

      SOLD

    • Dive Oil on Canvas Original 39 x 45 cm $840 £420 SOLD
      Dive

      Oil on Canvas
      Original
      39 x 45 cm
      $840

      £420

      SOLD

    • Remembering Oil on Canvas Original 36 x 45 cm $900 £450 SOLD
      Remembering

      Oil on Canvas
      Original
      36 x 45 cm
      $900

      £450

      SOLD

    • Visitor Oil on Canvas Original 39.5 x 50 cm $945 £475 SOLD
      Visitor

      Oil on Canvas
      Original
      39.5 x 50 cm
      $945

      £475

      SOLD

    • Little Sister Oil on Canvas Original 20 x 20 cm $695 £350 SOLD
      Little Sister

      Oil on Canvas
      Original
      20 x 20 cm
      $695

      £350

      SOLD

    • Big Sister Oil on Canvas Original 20 x 20 cm $695 £350 SOLD
      Big Sister

      Oil on Canvas
      Original
      20 x 20 cm
      $695

      £350

      SOLD

    • To Watch Grow Oil on Canvas Original 30 x 40.5 cm $875 £440 SOLD
      To Watch Grow

      Oil on Canvas
      Original
      30 x 40.5 cm
      $875

      £440

      SOLD

    • Meet Oil on Canvas Original 43.5 x 40.5 cm $990 £500 SOLD
      Meet

      Oil on Canvas
      Original
      43.5 x 40.5 cm
      $990

      £500

      SOLD

  • MEET ELYNOR SMITHWICK

  • My strengths..

    I’d say two strengths of mine are my curiosity and my open mind. Weaknesses include oversleeping!

     

  • I paint because..

    It’s a way to mark certain times in my life, to try to understand my state of mind. Painting creates a kind of metaphysical trail; the more I paint, the more my life makes sense to me. The solitary nature of painting allows me to feel closer to my late father who was an artist. These nostalgic moments ground me and inform my practice.

     
  • Places I go.. 

    At the moment Melbourne is in Stage Four Lockdown – so the only physical places I can visit are my home, local parks, the grocery store and the bakery where I work. When I’m at home painting, my mind drifts and with this my sense of space and place naturally expands, which is nice, particularly when I’m painting an outdoor landscape.

    I like to think about wide open spaces where the natural land outweighs man made structures. A favourite place, which I often refer to in my art practice, is a farm in NSW where my father grew up and where I had the privilege of spending time through my childhood. The simplicity and ease of life on the farm are deeply embedded in my thinking.. So much so that I even dream about the place!

  • Sounds I love.. 

    Lately I find Mary Lattimore and Grouper to be very relaxing. 

    There is just something about the sounds of birds, rain, walking on a dirt track, dinner party chatter and randomly.. shuffling through paper!

  • I hope.. 

    The Victorian borders will reopen soon so I can see my mother and sister again!

    A vaccine is discovered soon.

    2020 gets us to where we are meant to be.

      

     

     

     

  • Written by Madeline Simm -  in response to Elynor's exhibition - I Haven't Seen The Moon Tonight.

     

    A new purpose exists all of a sudden, realised on the walk I took today when I saw the tree. No real control over the order of each step I take, but it’s nice that way. I feel a care in my hands, up my arms when I hug my friend, my dog. If I could see the feeling it would be smaller-than-life butterflies leaving through each of my ten fingertips, and all in one year.

     

     New territory I find myself in feels just as familiar as before. Perhaps the gap that exists from not understanding is the crack that the seed can germinate in. Remembering the last day out of order on the next day, so that each thing that happens shifts meaning. Outside the moon is still there although right now I can’t see it. Please know that just because you are tired doesn’t mean I don’t love you. As the sun is going down it marks the beginning of something and not the end.

     

    I am acting without questioning the outcome or consequences, just as along the shoreline everything breaks and nothing breaks at once. I have a truth and it does exist. Different specks of thoughts dissipate in every direction and connect with everyone else around. Inside me somewhere I stay balanced, as the dog is barking.

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