In ‘Juxtaposed’, Melbourne based artist Colin Palethorpe considers the Australian landscape as a hybrid space, using the stark nature of collage to evoke an almost alien collision of European ‘settler’ culture on Australian soil. Idyllic pastoral scenes are sensitively rendered on paper, only to be interrupted by foxes, birds, rabbits and various other elements cut out from historic sources, and inserted into the imagery. Out of scale and out of place, they loom larger than life and lend a surreal dimension to the Australian landscape.
In this series, Palethorpe focuses on distinctly colonial views. He starts by describing settler cottages in rural locations, using watercolour to depict these humble buildings and their natural environment.
Firestation Print Studio Gallery
5 to 22 August, 2015
Melbourne
Hawkesbury, 2015, watercolour and collage on panel, 20 x 20cm
Courtesy the artist and Firestation Print Studio Gallery, Melbourne
