“Occuló” & "Insomnia" 18 June - 11 July

'Lara Scolari's works in this coming exhibition glow from the walls. They are imbued with hidden meanings and suggested nuances all contained within layer upon layer of soft and subtle shapes, light forms overshadowed with darkness. These works have to be seen, sat with, pondered upon before they give up their meaning. The works contain such depth that they continue to grow and burn themselves into your psyche for a long time. These are not easy works to access but require time and intelligent consideration before the viewer can say comfortably that they understand them.

Scolari herself says of the works "I am intrigued by the complexity, hidden undercurrents and agendas involved in relationships. I relate these layered emotions to the stress of the natural landscape and the surfaces beneath our feet."

"I have expanded and developed my theme/concept and this informs an intimate visual language of organic colour, shape and line. These elements generate a personal response of emotions that are expressed within my work. As if diving beneath the surface (dreaming of what cannot be seen)."

"My work is produced in an Abstract Impressionist style, with focus on the use of line, organic shape, layering and colour. I employ a limited palette of warm earthy tones, punctuated with grey and white."

"I am investigating how visual imagery can translate the complexity of emotions, with a range of visual effects, including translucency and softness - gentle luminosity, quiet understatement (giving clues), subtleness, layering, movement and honesty."

"I attack each work in a vigorous energetic manner. I aim for depth of layers in my work, and build up each layer using a variety of media and experimental methods. I endeavour to give each line or mark vibrancy, energy, motion, mystery and emotion that the viewer can experience. To see or not to see; the artist's dilemma"

"Nurture" by Lara Scolari

In "Insomnia", artist Jocelyn Moles has brought together a number of bright and well crafted images formed through the collage of a variety of mediums. 

Jocelyn says of her work "I work as a mixed media artist, incorporating Photography, pen, paint, print techniques and collage into my work. Over the last few years I have developed an interest in making hand-made books. I love the opportunities it presents to explore themes in one piece of work."

"I like the challenge of creating a work of art through collage. I am especially drawn to recycling words and pictures from other media. The medium itself often manipulates words and pictures, so in turn I like to recycle their words to explore issues in my own artwork. Conscious of copyright, my own photography is incorporated more and more into my works. I love taking photos and digitally changing them to represent something different from the original."

"A lot of research and preparation goes into starting a body of work. I use the internet, library, art galleries and museums to research. In the process, my own knowledge and thought processes are expanded. I document this process in an art journal so that I can refer back as I do to the art pieces."

PRIVATE COLLECTION - opens 16 April

It not every day that we are able to look inside the personal collections of others, or even gain an understanding of what is ‘collectible’ as opposed to ‘desirable’ or even ‘decorative’ in the visual arts.

From April 16, a country gallery is exhibiting for the first time, a collection of works that can only be described as ‘highly collectible’. These works have been drawn from the private collections of some of the gallery’s client base and have not been exhibited publicly before. Many of the works are over 100 years old and show the technique of previous masters of painting. We can see the delicate brushstrokes of John Absolon (1815-1895), a British Watercolourist whose painting would have made it to his family in Western Australia in the late 1800’s,  and finally into a private collection on the east coast of Australia. His son, John de Mansfield Absolon was also a watercolourist who spent his time between England and Australia and managed his family’s mining interests.

An early aboriginal painting by Desmond Ebatarinja (1956-2004) of the Hermannsburg School from Central Australia who painted around Central Australia and the desert is featured in the collection.

Another delightful work is a fine example of Ukiyo-e featuring a landscape created from woodblocks around the 1850’s. These works are rare outside of Japan and feature works from the famous school on delicate papers.

For those wanting to get into the collectible market at an affordable price, there are a range of John Sands early maps framed and ready to hang. The maps are from his early book of maps of New South Wales, first edition in 1886.

Alongside these rare works, the gallery is exhibiting a number of today’s artists that are considered to be of increasing value. Works by Greg Hyde, Joy Engelman, Brett Garling to name a few as well as an amazing sculpture by Tim Kyle . Kyle won the Wynne Prize in 2003 for his “Seated Figure” and Jayes has a strong work by Kyle in “Standing Man” in a similar vein.

This is a show not to be missed and will be out at Molong in central NSW from April 16 through to May10. Opening night Friday 16 April at 6.30.