aaron kinnane Winter Passing, Milk Moon Rising Aaron kinnane Winter Passing, Milk Moon Rising
12 - 28 November 2015
Aaron Kinnane engages with painting in its purest form to perpetuate his effervescent vision of the natural world. Visceral layers of paint form sublime and atmospheric landscapes that are at once sullen and savage, bleak and beautiful, heavy and , desolate and wildly alive. The resulting aesthetic equilibrium spawns a purification that pushes the viewer beyond a physical and visual appreciation of the works into a metaphysical meditation.
Kinnane’s new series of work continues the artist’s exploration of the suggested landscape. Lavish layers of midnight navies, hand-mixed mauves, icy blues, arctic greys and army greens reconstruct impressions from the artist’s subconscious. The images appear as hazy recollections, revenant visions lingering in the liminal space between form and formlessness.
Moving away from the singular viewpoints of his last series, Kinnane’s new paintings vary in perspective from the sublimity of soaring heights to the intimacy of ground level. Tempestuous, wintry folds of oil conjure stormy seas, snowy fields, rugged cliffs and grassy wilderness – atmospheric landscapes that oscillate between abstraction and representation. Bruised and scarred topographies exude feelings of isolation, yet it is a contented solitude that speaks not of despair but of hope. Using his palette knife as a material extension of his psyche, Kinnane effaces and rebuilds his forms – breaking down planes, pushing horizons and morphing shapes. These paradoxical moments of raw intuition and analytical precision conjure an energy that is at once wildly emotional and quietly cathartic.
Kinnane’s long-time love of music is embedded in his work, the artist having grown up in Newcastle with the guys from Silverchair and travelled through India with Ben Lee and Missy Higgins. His new works continue this interplay between the visual and the audile, not only literally (Kinnane always paints to music), but also tropologically – his palette knife like a conductor’s baton orchestrating different tonalities, from sonorous bass through to the feathery stokes of tenor. This lyrical language leaves the viewer to speculate their own truth based not only on what they see but what they feel.
Kinnane was a finalist in the 2015 Wynne Prize at the Art Gallery of New South Wales for his extraordinary work Called down from the mountains, written in the sea. The artist completed a BAVA at Newcastle University in 1998 and he was an assistant to artist Sandro Chia in Italy from 2000-01. He has since been showing his work regularly in solo and group exhibitions in Australia and internationally. Called down from the mountains, written in the sea (Wynne Prize finalist 2015) oil on canvas 180 x 305 cm $24,000 Our story written in the sea oil on canvas 180 x 220 cm $17,500 The ballad of Broken Bay oil on linen 120 x 220 cm $14,000 Notes from a lighthouse keeper oil on canvas 175 x 160 cm $13,500 Can we pretend before the mystery ends oil on canvas 160 x 157 cm $12,500 For the profit of smiles and wet skin oil on canvas 160 x 150 cm $12,500 Light foot, feathered cap, bleeding heart oil on canvas 160 x 150 cm $12,500 Soliloquy no. 3 oil on canvas 160 x 150 cm $12,500 Take flight oil on linen 160 x 150 cm $12,500 The build up oil on linen 160 x 150 cm $12,500 The passing oil on canvas 70 x 70 cm $4,200 3037 steps closer to you oil on canvas 54 x 54 cm $3,600 Mist over motion oil on canvas 54 x 54 cm $3,600 Skin wet with mist and rain oil on canvas 54 x 54 cm $3,600 A searchlight and a silhouette oil on canvas 54 x 46 cm $3,400 From here to Eden oil on canvas 54 x 46 cm $3,400 Minor fall, major lift oil on canvas 54 x 46 cm $3,400 Mirror image: self portrait as a landscape oil on canvas 54 x 48 cm $3,400 North oil on canvas 54 x 46 cm $3,400 Some part of me was lost in the light, lost at sea oil on canvas 54 x 46 cm $3,400 Twilight oil on canvas 54 x 46 cm $3,400 West oil on canvas 54 x 46 cm $3,400