Meet the artist this Friday night, 12 October from 6 till 8 at the opening of
A U T H E N T I C
Stunning new paintings in oils, 18ct gold dust, silver leaf and Damion's signature hand-pressed pigments from WA wildflowers by West Australian painter DAMION BLUNDELL
In AUTHENTIC, Perth Artist DAMION BLUNDELL discovers his 'authentic self.' Being surrounded by the grandeur of the New Zealand landscape of his childhood, Perth artist Damion Blundell’s work has become , as he says, ‘more noticed’. “Returning to New Zealand really made me look harder” says the 32 year old , whose romantic, floral imagery has won him many art collectors in WA since he first started exhibiting six years ago. Three months of incessant painting and travelling in NZ has produced a new body of work which he describes as “more grounded”. Blundell has shrugged off the flippancy and the quirky, anecdotal references that characterised his Perth-based works. These new, large canvases are sophisticated world-views, slathered with sheets of precious gold leaf and richly-glazed oils; darkly reflective and surprisingly seductive. The wildness of the flower forms which have largely contributed to his local success has not been lost. Instead, it’s been consolidated and reduced to its essentials, to become compositional, rather than the subject itself. These changes can only occur after “lots of looking, lots of noticing”. Blundell now approaches his work with a sensitivity which was before, intuitive, and is now known and understood – something he can consciously call upon as an artist to create what he wants, not merely what he sees. Blundell’s palette has always harked back, albeit unconsciously, to the New Zealand light – to his birthplace. “Only since returning as an adult – as a painter –have I realised what my real influences have been” , he says. “that southerly light is more dusky, more powedery around the edges than the sharp, brittle light we experience here”. These last few months ‘back home’ have reaffirmed Blundell’s innate view of himself as an artist. Quoting the great British Classical landscape artist William Turner he says “the greatest thing an artist can do is return to the landscape”, and in so doing Blundell has experienced a kind of personal epiphany. “I know I’ve got the goods for it “, says this extraordinary young man whose life has already encompassed more experiences and ordeals than many fit into a lifetime. Authentic is an exhibition of beautiful, grand, modern masters which Blundell’s fans will recognise as an artist of great talent coming of age
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