Visual journeys bring faraway WA closer

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Visual journeys bring faraway WA closer

WA artist Tristan Coleman’s new exhibition is called Journeys, and with good reason.

Coleman describes his artistic development as a journey, noting he was “always drawing at school” and explored various media as a young ******.

Living in Broome for 20 years significantly influenced his art, allowing him to “soak up the colours and history of the place.”

Then there are his more literal journeys within Western Australia, which have been crucial to his art. He is always painting from “recollections, photos, and ideas about landscapes”, drawing inspiration from his explorations across the State.

Indeed, Coleman finds inspiration in nature, particularly WA’s coastline and birdlife.

A good example is his piece Wader Birds, which captures the multifarious colours and contours of the Kimberley coastline.

Camera IconTristan Coleman’s Wader Birds. Credit: Supplied

He’s also intrigued by the human history of the landscape, including “old settlement towns” and locations like the gold rush areas and old Broome. Witness paintings such as Old Town and Old Mine Camp, the scattered buildings, situated in landscape, recalling the birds in Wader Birds.

Stephen Scourfield’s photographs of Inside Australia, Antony Gormley’s veritable sculpture park at Lake Ballard, further inspired Coleman.

He had tried to paint the sculptures en plein air but the conditions were less than ideal. Coleman appreciated Scourfield’s “composition and light” in the photos, which he used as references for new paintings, with Scourfield’s permission.

Coleman’s style evolved from his experience painting ceramics at Broome Courthouse Markets, where he learned to “distil your style to get the essence of things”. He cites as influences *********** artists like Fred Williams and Rover Thomas, as well as contemporary local artists.

You can see some of these influences in the sparse Williams-like vegetation in Kimberley Waterfall and Old Mine Camp, and the Thomas-like hills in Kimberley Composition I and Bay of Birds.

data:image/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAIAAAAAAAP///ywAAAAAAQABAAACAUwAOw==Camera IconOld Mine Camp. Credit: Supplied

For Coleman, painting offers something photography cannot – a “life force of its own” because of the physical reality of paint or crayon on a surface creating unexpected effects.

Looking to the future, he plans to dedicate more time to his art, aspires to an overseas art trip, and intends to continue exploring remote areas and old settlements in WA.

Journeys is part of a group exhibition which also features work by Alison Harvey, Carollyn Rhodes-Thompson and Emma Lipman-Murphy. It’s on at Ellis House Community Art Centre, 116 Milne Street, Bayswater from August 8-25, with the official opening on Saturday August 10 from 2pm-4pm.

data:image/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAIAAAAAAAP///ywAAAAAAQABAAACAUwAOw==Camera IconTropical Town. Credit: Supplied

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