Images:
Ralph BRISTOW
Pollination 2016
acrylic on canvas
121.5 x 121.5 cm
Frank BURGERS
White 2020
oil on linen on MDF
38 x 26 cm
Anthea KEMP
When Blue 2019
oil on canvas
140 x 120 cm
Ralph Bristow, Frank Burgers, and Anthea Kemp
23rd Apr – 25th Jul 2021
Simpson Gallery
Northern Abstraction draws together three artists with deep ties to the North East Victorian region to explore their diverse approaches to abstract painting.
Living in Barwite and working from his studio overlooking the Broken River, Ralph Bristow’s paintings are a mindful collage where dimensions are subverted, spontaneity trumps tradition, consciousness streams and colours enter with delight in unexpected associations. There is an urgency in his layering of paint, through which forms and stories emerge.
Based in Wangaratta and practicing from his Bridge Street Studio in Benalla, Frank Burgers explores and challenges Formalist principles. His current work draws on multiple sources of inspiration, ranging from artists such as Robert Jacks and Richard Dunn, to his immediate studio environment and the like-minded creatives who inhabit it.
Working from both memory and direct references, Anthea Kemp’s paintings are grounded in place; exploring the formalities of both representation and abstraction while sitting somewhere in the slippery space between these two approaches. Having grown up on farmland in North East Victoria, Kemp recently completed her Masters of Contemporary Art at the VCA, University of Melbourne.