Pattern in Art - 100 year old Japanese woodblock prints juxtaposed Contemporary Western Australian Artists being Sally Douglas Louis Moncrieff John Cullinane Melissa Nolan McDougall Jurek Wybraniec

 Wood block artist unknown               Melissa Nolan McDougall

Pattern In Art

Sally Douglas Louis Moncrieff John Cullinane Melissa Nolan McDougall Jurek Wybraniec Juxtaposed Unknown approximately one-hundred-year-old woodblock prints from Japan

Now exhibiting at 2 Dogs Art Space Akashi are woodblock prints (most likely originating in the period of  the Japanese Emperor Showa,  being from 1926 - 1989) by unknown Japanese artists, that I bought from an antique shop in Kyoto, juxtaposed to these aforementioned prints are artworks by contemporary Western Australian Artists Sally Douglas, Louis Moncrieff, John Cullinane, Melissa Nolan McDougall and Jurek Wybraniec . 

Pattern in art and how it exhibits itself through studio praxis has an extraordinarily long history within the art and crafts, the many galleries and museums stand testament to that idea, for human beings have been creating patterns not only to adorn themselves (clothes and jewelleries)  but on everyday utensils  throughout the antiquities of aesthetics, no matter what race, creed or civilization they belonged too.

Aesthetic designs with its endless flow of patterns now and in past times is always interesting to view, it often opens up more questions than it answers, why did people create such patterns, what was the meaning of the colour with the design etc ….

What kind of strange phenomena within human memory creates such designs all this I have few answers for, its an enormous field of study.  But in viewing human created patterns it does create the first common stand point for the viewer to find out for themselves, so please enjoy the unity and diversity of differing artist's aesthetics within this show from the Sister States being  Hyogo Prefecture, Japan and Western Australia thank you .

 Wood block artist unknown        John Cullinane

 Wood block artist unknown Sally Douglas 

 Wood block artist unknown  Jurek Wybraniec

 Wood block artist unknown Louis Moncrieff 

Exhibition at 2 Dogs Art Space

A selection of Two Master Women's Artworks from the Northern Suburbs of Perth, Western Australia - Lynne Norton & Sally Douglas

Lynne Norton - Kangaroo Paws

mixed media on Paper

Currently at 2 Dogs Art Space, Akashi there is a small selection of artworks by two women artists being Lynne Norton and Sally Douglas, who have resided in the northern coastal suburbs of Perth for most of their artistic lives.

These smallish artworks by Norton and Douglas tend to reveal an intensity of observation from the terrains they inhabit and paint/draw from of what one might call pedestrian suburban motifs that are transformed into artworks, through the phenomena of human imagination within their daily studio work ethic into masterful artworks.

The art space is fortunate to have these aforementioned highly talented Western Australian women artists with selected pieces from their life time commitment to studio praxis and who have exhibited locally, nationally and internationally showing in Japan.

Please enjoy this exhibition that is currently on exhibit only via the 2 Dogs Art Space Blog  due to the coronavirus, further exhibitions will be on show this way in the near future, thank you.

Lynne Norton - Sturt Peas

mixed media on paper

 Sally Douglas - Poppy Stem Illusion 

water colour on paper

Sally Douglas Wild Wisteria 1 

water colour on paper

Sally Douglas Wild Wisteria 2

water colour on paper

2 Dogs Art Space

Peter Davidson - Plum Omomuki Paintings Rinako Inoue - Ikebana - Runa Gallery Kobe Japan

Omomuki Painting

(warm feeling)

おもむきは、風景の中で幸せに感じるものを観察すると、

暖かい感覚を意味する日本語の単語です。

Omomuki is a Japanese word meaning warm feeling when observing something that makes you feel happy in the landscape.

This series of artworks of the seductive and beautiful Japanese plum blossoms were constructed in the late winter in my Akashi studio, the memories are from around Akashi/Kansai ports, throughout the heavy/light industries, densely populated apartment/housing areas with its intermittent crammed rice paddies in the valleys between.

This recent experimental installation/collaboration between the Ikebana artist Rinako Inoue and my paintings at the Runa Gallery eventuated due to a conversation I had with a Japanese lady, for she related to me;

That in olden times before the Tokugawa period on walls of a castle various animals were rendered in sumi – e (Japanese ink painting) and one image was that of a monkey. And during those bygone times large flower arrangements would be placed within the building and the audience could walk around it and view it from various positions. In some of these views one could see the painted monkey on the wall looking back at them through the flower display.

This aforementioned historical sensation of the sumi - e monkey peering back through the freshly arranged flowers appealed to me, but in this exhibition, there is no wildlife only the hard/heavy industry terrains of Japan with its heavily populated areas of small houses and apartments, along with intermittent rice paddies around the Akashi region, along with the occasional ume (plum) in bloom on the very cold days at the end of Japanese winter, which when sighted always gives me this warm feeling (Omomuki).

These areas of industrial, fishing, farming environments around my studio in Akashi are not what one might called traditionally picturesque but they're to me, it is where my studio is located and it’s always a great joy to walk along and see the floral slices ume trees of what I consider great beauty.

I like the ume flower it doesn’t bloom so majestically like the cherry blossoms of Japan but it still has this unique aesthetic that I enjoy and want to paint, no matter where it situated in Akashi or surrounding terrains.  

This exhibition is my first collaborative attempt at portraying these ume flower sensations from Akashi with a ikebana artist, here are some of the results, which I can build on in the future, as currently I am thinking maybe a bigger installation both in painting and flower arrangement but  for now please enjoy these images, thank you