West Hooker Creek - Neil Ernest Tomkins

From the finished paintings in this show, one can almost map the timeline of Neil Tomkins' process. Only two works are entirely composed of a single view (Emu Rockhole and West Hooker Creek), both of which, aside from minor touches, were painted entirely en plain air at the scene. The final work (Bush Banana there) was completed largely after the return to Sydney. This richly colourful painting features three separate skylines, so spliced with memory that it reads almost as though seen through a kaleidoscope.

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Alongside [Neil Tomkins' and Kitty Napanangka Simon'] distinctively bold and unapologetic use of colour, a major shared theme is the artists' process of layering perception and memory, expressing their view of landscape as an act of recognition and blending.

In the crafting of his work, Tomkins uses memory in a similar way, folding it into the fabric of his works and creating a truer image of the artist's perceived reality. A majority of works in this exhibition spawn from photo composites, fractured and instinctively arranged before being sewn together by brushstroke.