Pink Frost

From Sharne Wolff…

Dizzy gothic landscapes and veiled portraits are Fiona Lowry’s forte and Pink Frost delivers some skilful examples of her style. Lowry’s signature fine airbrush technique forces the eye to work hard while the unwitting viewer is drawn deep into her pictures. One of several large landscapes inspired by the native forests of Bundanoon in the NSW Southern Highlands, a rain of falling cinders, measures over five metres in length. In this massive cut-off composition, a giant pink eucalypt takes centre stage while on either side the vertical lines of glowing trees establish multiple entry points into the work. The title is most likely borrowed from a line in the Go Betweens Cattle and Cane. Interestingly musician Paul Kelly apparently once noted the song’s “odd, jerky time signature which acted as a trip-switch into another world”. That seems pretty apt here too.

Disturbingly ambiguous, Lowry’s figurative works play naggingly on the mind. Employing a slightly different technique and less colour than the pure landscapes, her naked female subjects appear to be performing some kind of ritual. The ‘girl interrupted’ protagonist in should I tear my eyes out now, before I see too much has a face so riveting it’s hard to stop thinking about her enigmatic expression. Left in any doubt, the title of the picture leaves the viewer fairly certain that something untoward may be brewing.

Until June 21
Martin Browne Contemporary, Paddington
Pic: Fiona Lowry should I tear my eyes out now, before I see too much 2015, acrylic on canvas, 198 x 250cm.