West 1991
In West, I painted my way along the train line and highway that run westwards from inner Sydney to the banks of the Nepean River at Penrith. In addition to numerous on-site sketches, the exhibition comprised eight major works, each one 4 foot by 8 foot (as we used to measure things in the olden days). Like Chinese boxes, or Russian dolls, each ‘suburbscape’ included elements of the previous composition.
Always, my paintings are about people and politics as much as place. By choosing to portray Sydney’s West, I hoped to work against the view of these suburbs as an unattractive cultural backwater. Exhibited at the Lewers Bequest and Penrith Regional Gallery as well as at Watters Gallery, the show was featured extensively in the magazine of the Penrith Panthers Rugby League Club: affirmation that I was reaching the people I had hoped to reach.
West # 1, oil on canvas, 48 x 96. (Including Newtown, Leichhardt, Camperdown, Alexandria, Redfern, Erskineville, Marrickville, Annandale.
West # 2, oil on canvas, 48 x 96. (Including suburbs of West # 1 plus Petersham, Taverners Hill, White Bay, St Peters, Earlwood, Dulwich Hill, Campsie.)
West # 3, oil on canvas 48 x 96. (Including West # 1 and 2, plus Burwood, Strathfield.)
West # 4, oil on canvas, 48 x 96. (Including West #1, 2 and 3, plus Auburn, Camellia, Harris Park, the Duck and Parramatta Rivers, Silverwater, Ermington, Granville South and Tocky Point.)
West # 5 oil on canvas, 48 x 96. (Including West # 1, 2, 3 and 4 plus Parramatta, Auburn, Westmead, Wentworthville, Holtoyd and St Marys.)
West # 6 oil on canvas, 48 x 96. (Including West 1, 2, 3, 4, and 5 plus Prospect Reservoir, Minchinbury, St Marys, Mt Druitt, Rooty Hill, and Toongabbie.)
West # 7 oil on canvas, 48 x 96. (Including West 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, and 6 plus Quarry Hill, Kingswood, St Marys, Werrington Park and Colyton.)
West # 8, oil on canvas, 48 x 96. (Including West 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6 and 7 plus the mighty Nepean River at Penrith.)