HALCYON

HALCYON | Clifford How with Chrystie Longworth
Curated & presented by Amber Creswell Bell

3 – 14 July 2019

Opening Reception: Wednesday 3 July (6-8pm)

Paintings by Clifford How with ceramics inspired by the Tasmanian Wilderness by Chrystie Longworth

As a child, Clifford How was introduced to Tasmania’s Central Plateau by his father, while fishing together for wild trout. The lifetime of continued visitations that ensued, experiencing the various moods of the bleak landscape there, left a lasting impression on Clifford and it has become an important location to his adult self.

Working en plein air is an essential part of Clifford’s painting practice, describing the necessary ‘sensory bombardment’ of working on location. “I find you bring home not only a literal visual colour record, but a sense of place that is imprinted in your memory,” he describes. “It’s the result of careful study of your subject in the open air, with all the discomfort that comes with this, which produces the strongest studio work”.

All of his work in oil is started and completed entirely with palette knives giving the paint a thick textural appeal, full of movement. If at any time during this painting process he feels he is losing some sort of control of the work, he will go back to the largest possible palette knife and start carefully chopping into and pushing the paint that is already on the surface so as to retain a sense of spontaneity of the earlier stages of the work.

Recent Accolades:
Tas Art Awards Winner 2016
Wrest Point Art Award Winner 2017
Hornsby Art Prize Winner 2018
Glover Art Prize Finalist 2016-2017
Paddington Art Prize Finalist 2017
Calleen Art Prize Finalist 2017

“Despite being a representational painter, it’s the emotional, invisible quality that evokes thought and contemplation in the veiwers mind that I strive to capture. If my work transports the veiwer to these evocotive, and sometimes ignored locations, I feel I have succeeded in my communication as an artist. Dim light creeping through cloud cover or the engulfing power of a heavy atmosphere taking control of a landscapes true identity, become the key subjects of my work on many occasions. Its this visually tranformative effect of weather on Tasmania’s rich, idyllic landscape that has driven me as an artist to this point and will no doubt do so for many years to come”.

~ Clifford How