Artists Statement – John Giese
My primary concern as an artist is to record my perceptions of place. The current series of paintings respond to the deep and timeless spirit of this land and sea; its creeks, valleys, beaches and plains as well as its inhabitants, the lizards, frogs, fish, whale, birds and insects. Within nature there are dramatic and complex relationships between species, natural forces and the land.
I respond to this material in a number of ways. There are plays between frogs and insects for example. Each inhabitant of this drama is marked in a distinctive way; lizards have mesmerist stipes and dots, graphic elements that can excite a picture.
My approach to painting is high energy and passionate. The work bounces between abstraction and lyrical figuration. The compositional issues are for me the most engaging challenge in painting and I give attention to the rhythms in both colour and form. I am currently playing with a decorated minimalism, a fusion of large simplified fields that are activated and teased by small scale mark making. I would like an audience to be entertained by both the content and the formal qualities of the work.
December 2006
Artists Biography
John Giese
1954 Born in Maclean N.S.W.
Lives and practices in Byron Bay
Currently studying Diploma Fine Arts Lismore TAFE
Exibitions
2006 Winner works on canvas Southern Cross Art Festival
2006 2nd Place TAFE acquisitive
2006 Group exhibition Waywood “ Revelations 10 “.
2006 Waywood smalls exhibition.
2006 Group exhibition Arthouse Australia Yamba.
2000 Exhibition of large works on canvas at the BASE Gallery Byron Bay.
1999 Waywood smalls exhibition.
Public art
1998 Mural recreation building Maclean Shire Council
2004 Murals on power poles Lismore City Council
2005 Design and paint mural to Education van Lismore City Council
1954 Born in Maclean N.S.W.
Lives and practices in Byron Bay
Currently studying Diploma Fine Arts Lismore TAFE
© klaus