Image:
Mark DOBER
Wollemi landscape (Bilpin) [detail] 2022
watercolour on paper
168 x 532 cm
24th Nov 2023 — 18th Feb 2024
Simpson Gallery
Mark Dober’s large-scale gouache and watercolours take viewers into the significant local landscape of the Winton Wetlands. Conveying a sense of immersion, the landscape is experienced as environment.
To create these new works, Dober places himself at ground level and applies the paint in a direct manner, and explains he does so in order to “not so much paint a view, as represent an environment. All that is around and before me — the detritus on the ground, weedy plants near and further away, foliage, water, living and dead trees, and an overarching sky, light and space — make their appearance in my work. Watercolour is a medium particularly well suited to describing a wetlands environment.”
The Winton Wetlands Reserve has 3800Ha of wetlands surrounded by 4,950Ha of red gum and box grassy woodlands, which includes 1850Ha of grazing land, and is the site of the Southern Hemisphere’s largest wetland restoration project, which seeks to renew the ecology and grow its natural, scientific, cultural and environmental significance.
Through his work, Mark Dober “conveys both the beauty of the Wetlands — even where so many dead trees are present — and the beauty inherent in the watercolour medium. Beauty delights us and it gives us hope. It can communicate a sense of gratitude and wonder, qualities all the more appreciated in our difficult times.”
About the Artist
An experienced artist, arts writer, and workshop facilitator, Mark Dober’s drawing and painting practice centres on the landscape. Working with oil on canvas, and watercolour and gouache on paper, Dober primarily paints en plein air, with multi-sheet works on paper spanning up to 5 metres in length and taking several sessions to complete.
Dober commenced formal art training in the 1980s, completing a Bachelor of Fine Art (Honours) through RMIT University, before undertaking a Master of Fine Art through the Victorian College of the Arts, and most recently a PhD in Fine Art (Painting) at Monash University where he was awarded the Mollie Holman Doctoral Medal.
Mark Dober has held solo exhibitions across Australia including at the Swan Hill Regional Gallery (VIC), Castlemaine Art Museum (VIC), Wagga Wagga Art Gallery (NSW), Warwick Regional Gallery (Qld), Mildura Arts Centre (VIC), Bathurst Regional Art Gallery (NSW), Geelong Gallery (VIC), and Bundoora Homestead Arts Centre (VIC). His work has featured in numerous curated exhibitions in leading public institutions, while he has also been a finalist in a number of prominent art prizes, including the Rick Amor Self Portrait Prize (2013, 2017, 2019); Flow Contemporary Watercolour Prize (2021), Paul Guest Drawing Prize (2016, 2020); John Leslie Art Prize (2006, 2014, 2018); Calleen Art Award (2019, 2020, 2021); and the City of Hobart Art Prize (2015).
Benalla Art Gallery Exhibition Partner
