18th September - 7th October
MARGARET WOODWARD - New Work
A number of abstracted themes, where there is a mix of the exotic and the domestic constantly in tension run through this exhibition. Reclining nudes draped in exotic patterned cloth, studies of her daughter, self images and dogs are favorite images as are the water lilies and landscape of Arnhem Land. There is a confidence, almost a bravado in the scale of many of the works - big bold drawings and paintings which claim the virtuosity of her craft. But there is also a darker side which informs the viewer of the undercurrents of her life. Many of the figures lying beneath the beautiful drapes have a solitude, an ennui reflecting a tiredness. They are exclusively studio pictures of figures in repose, at most they strum a shapely instrument or gesture with a languid arm, but more often there is a lassitude which can destabilize the viewer. The elegant composition and sure line is sometimes subverted by an undercurrent of dark melancholy and loneliness. These are not illustrations for some sentimental tale of lost love but an acceptance that beauty and art walk hand in hand with loss and decay. Each work provokes and individual response and requires time spent in its exploration. The media used vary from graphite to pastel, charcoal, ink and wash and occasionally a mixture of media with the characteristics of each medium and the quality of line and tonal values thus produced, being intrinsic to the nature and meaning of the work.
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