Exploration

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Watters Gallery, East Sydney

by Sharne Wolff

No stranger to the solo show, artist Euan Macleod has exhibited with Watters Gallery since 1982 after moving to Australia from his homeland of New Zealand.  In Exploration each of Macleod’s paintings provides the viewer with a vehicle for spiritual contemplation – a reminder that despite life’s complexities, humans have never stopped searching for meaning in the natural landscape.

Macleod’s semi-transparent ‘everyman’ character appears in all his paintings. Mostly he’s alone; at other times he’s accompanied by a friend or two, or the occasional dog. In Walking Dog – Grey Beach and Petone Figure a murky colossus emerges from the sky. Leaving the viewer reeling with a variety of emotions, the everyman’s constant ghostly presence is ambiguously reassuring even though he’s sometimes found in dark or precarious situations. As the everyman explores half-real versions of dark caves, flowing rivers and icy glaciers, landscapes vary from beach to desert, from mountains to fast flowing rivers.  Despite a restricted palette, Macleod’s landscapes are rich with paint and feeling. Their seemingly familiar appearance is reinforced by the elegant use of light in different forms – afternoon sunlight on the beach or the light at the end of a tunnel. While the everyman’s explorations often teeter on the brink of knowing and unknowing, he’s never left without hope.

Pic: Euan Macleod, Walking down river 2014, acrylic on linen 84 x 122cm Courtesy the artist and Watters Gallery.