Joe Furlonger ‘Capricorn Coast’
With thoughts this time of year inevitably turning to summer holidays and languid afternoons contemplating your next swim, this show by acclaimed landscape artist Joe Furlonger will provide a perfect appetizer.
The boats rendered with immediate, almost calligraphic marks sit on a ground of gestural strokes of paint that only partially conceal the layers of contrasting hues that Furlonger has applied in preparation. The resulting canvases dance with light and movement and we, like the watercraft, navigate the shipping channels through his brushmarks.
Born in Cairns in 1952 and living and working in Queensland most his life, Furlonger has won a slew of prizes including the prestigious Fleurieu Art Prize for Landscape in 2002 and is a regular finalist in the Wynne Prize at the Art Gallery of NSW. However, it has been many years since we have seen a comprehensive exhibition of work in the commercial sector. ‘Capricorn Coast’ at Sydney’s Liverpool Street Gallery signals a welcome reintroduction with a beautiful and concise collection of ten paintings.
The Capricorn Coast is a stretch a coastline near Rockhampton at the southern end of the Great Barrier Reef. While popular with holiday goers for its exquisite beaches, Furlonger chooses to depict its mercantile pursuits from the massive gas tankers entering Gladstone harbour to the smaller scallop boats bobbing in the inky seas of Yeppoon. The boats rendered with immediate, almost calligraphic marks sit on a ground of gestural strokes of paint that only partially conceal the layers of contrasting hues that Furlonger has applied in preparation. The resulting canvases dance with light and movement and we, like the watercraft, navigate the shipping channels through his brushmarks.
It is interesting that this exact location was also home to respected artist Ian Fairweather (1981-1974), who famously lived and worked in a hut on Bribie Island for the final years of his life. These paintings (particularly ‘Yeppoon’) whether consciously or not, pay homage to Fairweather but also, and perhaps more importantly, signal a new and exciting chapter for an artist that could one day take up his mantle.
Joe Furlonger
Capricorn Coast
Until 24 December 2016
Liverpool Street Gallery
243a Liverpool Street
East Sydney
ph: 8353 7799
Tues- Sat 10-6
Credits: Joe Furlonger, Liverpool St Gallery
