Damien Minton Gallery

THE RIGOUR OF MAGIC

Responding to the space and light in the works of this exhibition I am transported to the parched country around Bathurst with the heat haze diffusing light, colour & thought. In ‘tree near Bathurst’, time slows down; I can smell the dry grass and hear crows calling in the distance.

I am always intrigued as to what it is that makes a painting trigger a response, is it nuance in the marks? Is it a subliminal response to the semiotics of certain colours and shapes? At the same time I know this is not what Neridah is setting out to do.

Neridah Stockley is first and foremost a painter, the works are about the physicality of paint, painting and learning to see. Her approach is to physically engage the subject to place herself in the landscape and work plein air to resolve the problems of light, colour and form with paint.

Neridah would have been outside in a paddock or on top of a hill to paint such works as ‘from Hawkins Hill no.3’, a moment captured with free flowing marks the paint diffusing into the paper evoking the atmosphere of that event in time, I can sense the change coming and smell that rain.
Paintings made in the studio are a further distillation of the plein air work.

A fence junction in ‘Bathurst Hill Slope’ with the trickery of an experienced hand, a gentle shift in colour and tone, becomes three converging planes. We are drawn into the space the painting creates. The painting becomes an object and the process a pathway to an abstraction to fundamental elements while leaving just enough to remain representational.

It has been an important part of Stockley’s practice to explore this difference of works produced in the studio and those made outside, they inform each other and what started out to be a tense relationship, a push and pull of different sensibilities has become more fluid in this body of work as the works made outside have also become a play on negative space and the studio works have the same light and expressive marks as work made outside.

Drawing is an integral part of the process, Neridah often stresses that she is interested in the relationship between drawing, painting and now collage. Collage is a new way of working for Neridah, an extension to her process, “Collage is a way of constructing and deconstructing space, shape and colour” NS

While at Hill End, Stockley walked the streets looking for new shapes and forms to respond to. The town of Hill End itself a pastiche visually, easily lends itself to the construction of collage. The reductive process seen in the collages ‘St Pauls’ and ‘Awning’ can also be seen the works in oil such as ‘Blue Roof’ or ‘Post Office’.
For me atmosphere is not lost in this process either ‘Butchers Block’ can conjure up the smell of an old butchers shop.

The plywood collage is another mechanism for investigating possibilities, a type of 3D drawing. Reduction to forms that become construction and feed back into painting. Drawing underpins the whole process.

Working with Neridah for almost a decade now, I am aware of her disciplined approach and have watched her work continuously develop. Neridah’s paintings are eloquently understated and not weighed down by the process of their making – it is an uncompromising process that gives the work great integrity.

Neridah’s approach is not a new one, it is a well established western tradition of paint and she pays homage to peers in her chosen genre. Neridah has committed herself to this tradition and never waivered in her focus or pandered to fashion.

Works of art operate when artists invest themselves in the work no matter the genre. It is this commitment that gives the work an edge that transcends fashion
The title of this essay would suggest the Neridah sets out to evoke an emotional response – nothing could be further from the truth, that is what we bring to the relationship.

But to deny that the work achieves an intuitive response would also denounce the integrity of the rigorous process

And it is through this rigorous process that magic is created

Dallas Gold 2014
Director, Raft Artspace, Alice Springs

Education

Bachelor of Fine Arts, Painting, Major National Art School, East Sydney (1994 – 1996 Completed in 2000)

Solo exhibitions

2014 Stone and Floating Steel, Fremantle Arts Centre Hill End & Other Places, Damien Minton Gallery2012Works on Paper, Araluen Galleries Alice SpringsPaintings and Drawings, Damien Minton Gallery2011Paintings and Works on Paper, RAFT Artspace Alice Springs2010Damien Minton Gallery, Redfern- Recent Paintings2009Damien Minton Gallery, Redfern- New Work and Works on Paper 2009RAFT Artspace – Sojourn Darwin 2007RAFT Artspace – Works from Tennant Creek and the studio 2006RAFT Artspace – Paintings and Drawings 2005Araluen Cultural Precinct – Drawings and Paintings

Group exhibitions

2014 Botanica, Godinymayin Yijard Rivers Arts & Cultural Centre, Katherine2013Marina, Iggy, Neridah and Patsy, RAFT Artspace Alice SpringsNo place like home, Araluen Arts Centre Alice SpringsArt is Easy, Chan Contemporary Art Space Darwin2012Newcastle Regional Art Gallery – Recent Acquisitions
10 Years Ago – Damien Minton Gallery at the Newcastle Art Space
Pmere Amtamtereme- Watching this Place, Araluen Galleries, Alice Springs
In Print: Charles Darwin University Art Collection, Darwin
Stock Room Group Show- RAFT Artspace, Alice Springs2010Paper Cuts- Araluen Cultural Precinct, Alice Springs
Tactipe- Araluen Galleries, Alice Springs2009Gifted II- Recent Acquisitions- Charles Darwin University, Darwin
Eyes on the Centre- Araluen Galleries, Alice Springs
Goodbye 09 Hello 10- Damien Minton Gallery, Redfern2008The Heyson Prize- Handorf Academy, Adelaide
The Other Thing- a survery show- Charles Darwin University, Darwin
Accounting for the Collector- Logan Art Gallery, Logan
Jamboree Xmas Show – Damien Minton Gallery
Four Artists Painting the Land – Idris Murphy, Neridah Stockley, John R Walker & Ross Laurie – Damien Minton Gallery Redfern
RAFT Artspace – Melbourne Art Fair Royal Exhibition Building Melbourne 2007RAFT Artspace – Stockroom Show Darwin
Alice 5 AP Bond Art Dealer Adelaide 2006Other side of Two Mile Araluen Cultural Precinct Alice Springs 2004Watch this Space Members Show Alice Springs
Advocate Art Award Araluen Cultural Precinct Alice Springs 2003Watch this Space Members Show Alice Springs 2002Watch this Space Members Show Alice Springs 2000Newtown Studios Newtown
Global Gallery Paddington

Selected awards and art prize exhibitions

2014 Calleen Art Prize, Finalist The Alice Prize, Finalist2013Cossack Art Award, Finalist, Highly CommendedHazelhurst Works on Paper, Finalist2012The Glover Prize – Highly Commended
The Alice Prize2009Gifted II Recent Acquisitions Charles Darwin University Darwin
Eyes on the Centre Araluen Cultural Precinct Alice Springs2008Qantas Foundation Encouragement of Contemporary Art Award – Awarded as the Northern Territory artist
Heysen Prize (Highly Commended)
The Other Thing – a survey show Charles Darwin University Darwin 2007Togart Contemporary Art Award Parliament House Darwin
Broken Hill Outback Art Prize 2006Our Home Recent Acquisitions Charles Darwin University Darwin
Togart Contemporary Art Award, Parliament House Darwin
The Alice Prize, Araluen Cultural Precinct Alice Springs
The Whyalla Prize 1999The Alice Prize Araluen Cultural Precinct Alice Springs
William Fletcher Trust Fund

Collections

Artbank
Macquarie Bank
The Australia Club
Charles Darwin University
Parliament House Canberra
Kerry Stokes Collection
Araluen Collection
National and international collections

Publications

2013 Looking at Art – The Charles Darwin University Art Collection, Anita Angel, CDU Press Macquarie Group Collection – The Land and its Psyche, John McDonald, Julian Beaumont & Felecity Fenner, UNSW PressThe Peter Elliot Collection of Australian Art, Gavin Fry, Beagle Press2012 The Alice Springs New Review by Kieran Finnane Newcastle Regional Gallery Calendar2011RAFT Artspace, Melbourne Art Fair Catalogue, essay by Una Rey2010RAFT Artspace, Melbourne Art Fair Catalogue, essay by Dallas Gold2010Artist Profile (Issue 10, pgs. 110 & 111)2010Australian Art Review (Issue 22) 5 Series2008Australian Art Collector (Issue 43) Nominated in Australia’s Most 100 Collectable Artists 2008RAFT Artspace Melbourne Art Fair Catalogue