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6 - 17 FEB 2019
PAUL MAHER
Harbour’s Edge
Paul Maher’s experience of the landscape has been made sharper through his observation. Not a resident of Sydney, but a regular visitor, he has allowed the harbour to enter his senses. He defines the place with tough, terse brush strokes and counters them with a seductive love of his subject.
In Harbour's Edge, the painting is immediate and fresh – every action can be traced on the canvas. Maher has delivered a series of quick impressions, developed from drawings in the field which has taught him to think on his feet. The paintings exhibit an outrageous lack of caution in the use of colour in some instances and in others shows a quiet reserve. These palette changes convey a brightness and optimism and in others, contemplation to correspond with his observations of place, light, reflection and viewpoint.
The ceramic pieces compliment the paintings; they test the imagery and develop themes. Robust ceramic forms and platters explore the relationship between the land’s foliage to the scene below. Plant life along the harbour’s rock platforms position the viewer and lead through to the open water beyond. Working in two mediums simultaneously has led Maher to emphasise the design in painting and the ‘painterlyness’ in ceramic arts. He has tested his practice and broadened his view and allowed the audience to see this landscape through fresh eyes.
Harbour’s Edge
“The concept for this series is based on observational drawing on harbour visits by ferry or on foot along the harbour’s edge
from Rose Bay to Watsons Bay.
I was attracted to places that evoked a sense of the land’s relationship to the water
and these images are drawn from both vantage points.
Steering away from the typical Sydney icons, I settled on a series of places that I hadn’t looked at consciously before but could see were valued by the people who live there.”
Paul Maher has previously been a finalist in the Gosford Art Prize (2018 and 2017), the Muswellbrook Art Prize (2017), the Brisbane Art Prize (2017), the Redlands Art Prize (2016), the Kilgore Art Prize (2015 and a recipient of the Mornington Peninsula Residency (2017). He has staged solo exhibitions at Gallery 139, Newcastle Art Space and Galleries Fleur d’Or Paris (1999) and was curated into group shows at Sydney Contemporary Hunter Prints and Paper (2018), Aro Gallery, Darlinghurst (2018), University of Newcastle Gallery (2017), The Depot, Sydney (2016), Recent Acquisitions Newcastle Art Gallery (1998) and Shifting Grounds, Art Gallery of NSW (1990).
Maher’s work is held in the collections of Newcastle Art Gallery, University of Newcastle, the Lake Macquarie City Art Gallery Sculpture Garden and private collections in Australia, France, Ireland and New Zealand.
Maher has been making and exhibiting art for over 30 years in Australia and overseas. Raised in the Hunter Valley, he trained in Visual Arts at the University of Newcastle, completing his postgraduate in Painting. This will be his 12th solo show.
PAUL MAHER
Photograph by Ahn Wells
PaintingsPAUL MAHER
She-Oaks and golden harbour Oil on Canvas 75 x 87 cm $1,300
Shark Beach patrol tower Oil on Canvas 87 x 75 cm $1,300
Point of the Harbour – shared history Oil on Canvas 87 x 75 cm $1,300
Moreton Bay Fig and stucco flats Oil on Canvas 87 x 75 cm $1,300
Kirribilli flats and ferry Oil on Canvas 87 x 75 cm $1,300
Kayaks and canoes – Hermit Bay Oil on Canvas 87 x 75 cm $1,300
Mauve and crimson Beach Paddock Oil on Canvas 67 x 47 cm $750
Violet leaves Rose Bay jetties Oil on Canvas 67 x 47 cm $750
Boat shed and rocky shoal – Dumaresq Reserve Oil on Canvas 67 x 47 cm $750
P&O and Persian carpet Oil on Canvas 67 x 47 cm $750
Sorbet coloured boatshed - Gibsons Beach Oil on Canvas 67 x 47 cm $750
Harbour edge and stucco flats Oil on Canvas 67 x 47 cm $750
Terre vert Hermit Bay slip Oil on Canvas 67 x 47 cm $750
Harbour ripple wash – Hermit Bay Oil on Canvas 67 x 47 cm $750
Yacht and arc – Shark Point to Middle Head Oil on Canvas 40 x 43 cm $590
CeramicsPAUL MAHER
Hermit Point across Rose Bay Black underglaze on white earthenware 31 cm diameter $450
Hermit Bay slip Black underglaze on white earthenware 31 cm diameter $450
Shark Beach patrol tower Black underglaze on white earthenware 31 cm diameter $450
Green grey Garden Island Coloured underglaze on white earthenware 32 cm diameter $450
Garden arches Black underglaze on white earthenware 32 cm diameter $450
Harbour window and clam shell Coloured underglaze on white earthenware 32 cm diameter $450
Boat shed Watsons Bay Black underglaze on white earthenware 30 cm diameter $450
Jacaranda on Dawes Point Coloured underglaze on white earthenware 30 cm diameter $450
Boxing class on the Tarpeian Lawn Black underglaze on white earthenware 28.5 cm diameter $450
Parsley Bay White slip on terra cotta 27 cm diameter $450
Bradfield Park Coloured underglaze on white earthenware 28 x 32 cm $450
Harbour edge and yacht Coloured underglaze on white earthenware 27 x 30 cm $450
Small Garden Island Coloured underglaze on white earthenware 24 x 27 cm $400
Mostero deliciosa vessel Black underglaze on white earthenware 18 cm height x 15 cm diameter $350
Garden arches exotica vessel Black underglaze on white earthenware 18 cm height x 15 cm diameter $350
Point Piper through verdant leaves vessel Black underglaze on white earthenware 18 cm height x 15 cm diameter $350
Garden arches vessel Black underglaze on white earthenware 18 cm height x 15 cm diameter $350
