Patsy Chingwile: The Hawkesbury and the Divine

Patsy Chingwile’s exhibition, The Hawkesbury and the Divine, presents two directions the artist is pursuing simultaneously, in oil on canvas.

Her portraits, predominantly autobiographical, captivate the viewer in a space of direct intimacy with vibrant non-naturalistic colour – fractured light is prismed, blended, planal, with varied degrees of abstraction. Her landscapes capture the shimmer and stillness of the Hawkesbury river: the tension between figurative detail and compositional abstraction develop headlands into anthropomorphic forms and beyond, towards the human and the surreal.

Just as the artist’s output alternates in time between portrait and landscape, the internal and the outside world become less defined – the faces and scenes become reflective of the artist’s inward state. With influences from expressionism, impressionism, post-impressionism, cubism and the surrealists, Patsy thinks this might be her 8th solo exhibition in Sydney.

The Shop Gallery, 112 Glebe Point Rd, Glebe, NSW. Open July 12-20th, 12pm-6pm everyday. Opening night Friday 11th July 6-8pm.