quarARTine #4 – Amanda van Gils at The Other Art Fair

Brisbane-based landscape painter Amanda van Gils is one of many artists whose work was to be shown at The Other Art Fair, Sydney, this month.

Regular followers may recall me writing about Amanda’s work before, and her series of landscapes inspired by the imperfect photos taken by travellers in moving vehicles.

More recently, Amanda has been painting her own travels, documenting the landscapes she’s visited, and the sensations they stir within her. Each canvas is a visual diary of sorts, a way of conveying her thoughts and emotions, as well as her connection to the people and places around her. It was these works, first debuted at her studio show late last year, that were to be shown at The Other Art Fair.

In real life, the foliage and rocky formations fade in and out, moving between figuration and abstraction as you view them from different angles. To revisit them digitally is to become more aware of their luminous intensity, the detail in each work, and the use of colour and tone to convey light and dark.

In a world of so much uncertainty, where everyday freedoms have become the enemy, they remind me that there’s still joy and reassurance to be found in nature – provided all the other bushwalkers stay four square metres away from me.

To see more of Amanda van Gils’s work, head to her website here.