Myrna McRae + Tatiana Bistrin + Rosemary Clark
Floriana
23 October - 3 November 2024
G2
Opening Night
Friday 25 October | 6 - 8pm
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Myrna McRae
Myrna McRae believes that painting — creating any art really — is a problem-solving process. It lives in some complex mixture of intuition, practised craft skills and educated and disciplined respect for what might be produced and shared.
‘When you look at a painting while you’re working on it, it’s a constant struggle to see how it will evolve, to check what might be wrong and to experiment with ways to fix it up. That might be part of the process of never being absolutely sure that something is finished.’
She likes Justin Paton’s observation: ‘“Tell us about the ideas behind your work,” painters are asked, as if the painting is merely a door behind which the thoughts that generated it are stowed. But the thoughts that matter in painting are not lined up beforehand to be put into or clipped onto the painting.’
The field this time is again nature and what emerges from it, especially in terms of vegetation. Many of these paintings are concerned with the shapes, rhythms and colorations of flowers. As reflected in their names they have been derived from various field trips the most substantial of which was to Mount Arapiles/ Dyurrite, an outlier of the Grampians in Western Victoria. The Grampians have provided constant inspiration as well as motifs for Myrna’s work over the last several decades.
This exhibition contains some aspects of conventional landscape and, in fact, still life painting. But her practice is distinguished by building portraits of place, figure and form by abstracting her responses to them, by trying to find just the right motifs to show and express what she thinks.
She has been painting seriously for more than 40 years and is delighted to share this exhibition with two friends, Rosemary Clark and Tatiana Bistrin, who share her commitment to making art.
Myrna McRae Bio
Myrna McRae has had an extensive career teaching at secondary and tertiary levels. But during that time she always maintained her art practice. For many years she was taught by Helen Maudsley who remains an important and welcome influence on her work. Myrna’s recent work has drawn heavily on her experiences of visiting and living in the Grampians, and finding ways of expressing their character and, more broadly, the nature and qualities of human interaction with nature. This is her twelfth exhibition and her seventh with Red Gallery.
Tatiana Bistrin
Tatiana Bistrin aimed to concentrate on small pieces, using color and light to express mood. Inspired by behind-the-scenes moments in her dance classes and rehearsals, or flowers she personally picked and arranged, her focus was on creating works that felt small, personal, and precious.
The intent of this exhibition was to craft pieces like little icons that people might want to own and take home.
Rosemary Clark
With these paintings Rosemary has continued her exploration of colour and dimensionality, cropping and framing. She finds the compositional permutations and abstractions that result from a change in focus endlessly fascinating.
These paintings are based on everyday accessories (scarves and beads) that add a touch of sparkle and colour to our lives.
Contact
Phone : (03) 9482 3550
mail@redgallery.com.au
Address
157 St Georges Rd
Fitzroy North, Victoria, 3068
Map
How to get here
Tram: Route 11
Stop 21 just north of Edinburgh Gardens
Melway Ref: 30B12
Parking in nearby streets
Bus: 504 (Reid Street)
