Ken Knight The Waterhole

June 19 - July 3, 2019

It has been three years since my last exhibition at Wentworth Galleries. During that time, I have travelled extensively within Australia and Internationally. Part of my thinking process when I travel overseas is to contemplate the landscape and light, and reflect why Australia is so unique. One of the observations I have made is that while Australia is highly urbanised, the Australian psyche is based ostensibly on the bush. This can be seen in our “bush legends”, in paintings, books, poetry and folklore, and it is also how we like to promote Australia. When I am searching for painting locations in the bush, I often seek out waterholes, creeks and rivers that provide the central focus for land use. It notonly provides the lifeblood for all flora and fauna, but it also offers a wonderful subject matter for painting. This exhibition largely reflects my desire to show Australia through this perception. We have “Waltzing Matilda” (Slim Dusty) and “My Country” (Dorothea Mackellar) that epitomise this consciousness, and we have endless short stories by Henry Lawson that idealise the romantic in the bush. Many of the earlier Australian artists portray this vision, and later Nolan and Boyd continued this bush imagery, albeit a less romantic one. The waterhole in the Australian landscape is akin to an oasis, as it encapsulates an enduring image. In this current exhibition I have included many variations of the waterhole. In fact many of the waterhole paintings in this exhibition are derived from a couple of locations between Harden and Jugiong. I am stimulated and challenged to paint endless variations; pushing and pulling colour and tone, altering the horizontal or vertical orientation of the painting...and painting the subject in morning or midday light, or when it is overcast. From an artists’ viewpoint, it’s not so much what is there before your eyes, but how you react and respond to it that counts. This exhibition also includes paintings of gum trees, but not in the traditional sense. I am captivated by the abstraction and realism of looking into the foliage above my head, and the strong sense of colour and light that can be achieved by painting something without a horizon and with limited distance. The sribbley gums on the South Coast provide a stimulating motif and the multi panel paintings came from the idea of echoing the forest canopy in a horizontal context. Each of these paintings have been painted separately, and on location. I enjoy the freedom and challenge of painting en plein air. This direct contact with nature is integral to how and why I paint.