Dates: 12 September – 3 November, 2024
Location: Drill Hall Gallery, Canberra
The ANU Drill Hall Gallery re-opens this August with Euan Macleod: Flux. Developed in collaboration with Orange Regional Gallery, Flux survey’s a series of Macleod’s en plain air works created on the rugged Haupapa Tasman Glacier in New Zealand’s South Island, alongside a suite of studio paintings whose grand scale emulates their site of inspiration.
Macleod’s fascination with potentially dangerous environments recurs in this exhibition as he paints a sublime and inhospitable world of snow, ice, minerals and rock. Through multiple expeditions since his childhood, Macleod has forged a deep connection with the Haupapa Tasman Glacier. Each visit allows Macleod to contemplate his innermost awareness, finding shadows of himself mirrored in the landscape. His most recent trip was marked by a growing sense of unease and a shift in his relationship with the site: “I saw (the glacier) with different eyes, it felt vulnerable…this time, I thought, you can see climate change in action.”
While Macleod’s mountain subject is one loaded with all the elemental force of nature’s romance and sublimity, the dynamics of these paintings, as co-curator Anne-Marie Jean notes, “hinges on the relationship between the figure and the landscape. Anthropomorphic rocks protrude from the snow and towering elemental forms lead or shadow their protagonists… Made of rock and weather Macleod’s figures are reflections of the self and guides on a journey, at times ominous and yet companionable.”
Euan Macleod: Flux is co-curated by Bradley Hammond, Anthony Oates and Anne-Marie Jean. An Orange Regional Gallery and ANU Drill Hall Gallery partnership exhibition.
The official opening of the exhibition will take place on Thursday 12 September 6:00pm, launched by Orange Regional Gallery Director, Bradley Hammond. No registrations are required for this event.
Image: Euan Macleod beneath Aoraki Mt Cook NZ – Feb 2023 – Photo by Bradley Hammond.
