Telling Stories

As a self taught painter, my artistic experience has been evolving from year to year, and this series is a natural continuation and building of my work. These paintings are therefore a fusion of memory and imagination and an exploration of personal spirituality set in the Tasmanian landscape.

None of the places depicted in my paintings wholly exist; rather they are suggestive of places, amalgamations of memory and observation. This method of working allows me the freedom to step from the local toward the universal. I consider this an important factor if I am to communicate to a wider audience of people from places other than Tasmania.

I have often found that some small detail in my everyday surroundings can trigger ideas for paintings. For example, I began noticing knotted curtains hanging in windows some time ago and started to use this motif in my paintings. To me, the curtain has alluring and ambiguous symbolism. I imagined views from such windows and rooms and what wonderful worlds they might look into. I love suggestion and the suggestion is vast.

Perhaps the curtain or the tree is a representation of the self, rather like a figure in a landscape? I intend also the suggestion of a theatrical stage set with the innuendo of potential narratives to be played out in the Arcadian setting I provide as a background. The vertical form of a lone tree or a hanging drape gives an important visual counterpoint for the horizon and thus becomes an important device in the construction of my compositions.

Living and working in Tasmania gives me great inspiration and pleasure.

My work changes each year as details in my surroundings, such as a simple drape or a tree, weave their way into my imagery.

Luke Wagner
October 2006