Three very different artists will show their work in a new show at the Left Hand. Sam Kidd, Alycia Moffat and Surya Bajracharya each have a unique and direct style, which owner Julian Davies appreciates.
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“I chose these three because they all have a very individual approach, but it’s not just trying to be different, they actually have something they really want to say and express in their own terms,” Davies said.
He enjoys the informality and directness the medium of drawing offers.
“I like drawing particularly because it’s so immediate,” Davies said. “Often when artists paint they have this notion they’re doing an important work of art, or when they sculpt, they’re doing an important work of art, and it often gets in the way of the freedom of expression I think is so important in art.”
In contrast, he believes drawing’s strength is in its simplicity and immediacy of expression.
“You can take a little bit of paper and doodle, and you produce something that can have just as much visual impact, but it avoids that whole notion of ‘oh I’m doing something that’s serious now, I better make it good’,” he said.
Where formality can stifle creative forms of expression, a pen to paper has an easy fresh charm.
“Drawing often has a psychological freedom that I really like,” Davies said. “I think it gets past some of those psychological barriers to making art that’s fresh and alive.”
Each of the three artists channels the directness of the medium into his or her work.
Moffat’s large expressive portraits offer neat observations about the character of humans, and the way they live.
In contrast, Bajracharya works, which use ink on plate, offer a reflective view of the landscapes between Braidwood and Canberra. Rather than being directly representational, the works offer a dreamlike interpretation of the qualities of the landscape.
“Out of the process of removing marks, [he] reveals qualities in the landscape that aren’t necessarily any given place, but have the quality of that travel back and forth through the twilight and the dawn and the day,” Davies said.
Kidd’s artwork is again, not directly representational, but reveals itself at a deeper level with thought.
“You have to live with it and ruminate on it, and I think that’s really interesting,” Davies said.
- Drawings at the Left Hand will be open July 8-9,15-16 and 22-23 July, 10am-5pm or by appointment, drinks from 5pm July 8, thelefthand.website