Since 1980, Tillers has composed his large grid paintings using small individual canvas boards and has sequentially numbered each one therefore connecting the individual parts to make the greater whole.
His imagery, both historic and contemporary, engages the notion that provincial culture derives its influences from imports of dominant cultures and concepts of displacement, both geological and spiritual. Taking inspiration from the late Albert Namatjira who, through his watercolours of Central Australia, found a way to repair some of the psychic and spiritual damage – what Kevin Gilbert has called ‘a rape of the soul’ – long endured by Aboriginal Australia.
Greenaway Art Gallery/GAG PROJECTS
Until 17 April, 2014
Adelaide
Water Dreaming, 2014, synthetic polymer paint, gouache on 49 canvas boards, 178 x 248cm
Courtesy the artist and Greenaway Art Gallery/GAGPROJECTS, Adelaide
