Cup painting 1973
oil on canvas
32.8cm x 32.8cm
Purchased, 1982

	Links: [Education kit] [Further Reading] [Visual Analysis Worksheet]
	Other Artists:
	[William Barak] [Louis Buvelot] [Janet Dawson] [Russell Drysdale] [Eugene von Guerard] [Hans Heysen]	[Dale Hickey] [Frederick McCubbin] [Sidney Nolan] [Tom Roberts] [Arthur Streeton] [Fred Williams]

Considerations

1. Complete the visual analysis sheet using Cottlesbridge landscape 1980.

2. After this work Hickey devoted several years to landscape painting in and around the Eltham area where he lived at the time. Discuss his next major series of work which the critic Robert Rooney termed 'the artist moving indoors'. Analyse one work from this period.

3. Hickey's art work is often viewed as a succession of abrupt changes in style. List some of these with examples of particular art works.

4. Hickey gave up painting in 1969 to devote himself to conceptual art practice. Research some of the work completed by the artists in this period.

5. Gareth Samson and Paul Partos were contemporaries of Hickey at the time. Compare the work of these artists.

6. Compare the landscapes of Fred Williams completed at the same time as Cottlesbridge landscape.

7. Matisse is often acknowledged by the artist as an important influence. Discuss this in connection with Hickey's art work completed at this time.

8. Compare the painting Untitled by Hickey with Cottlesbridge landscape.

9. Research the work of two other artists who exhibited in The Field exhibition at the National Gallery of Victoria in 1969.

10. The act of painting is of prime importance to Hickey. Looking at the artist's oeuvre, discuss how his handling of paint changes.

In 1980 Hickey wrote in reference to his series of paintings of the Cottlesbridge landscape, painted in 1979-80:

I went out painting in the spring of '79 thinking that it was time to confront colour. Cottlesbridge looked typically grey to me and I can remember thinking 'today it's going to be ultramarine, violet, viridian, pink and some yellow'. I did it that way and it worked! It seems simple thus stated, but I had to steel myself to doing it. It was for me a great drama, that first occasion. Subsequently the feeling of drama was replaced by fun.

Extract from a letter by Dale Hickey, December 1980, held on file, National Gallery of Victoria.

Historical Context
By the end of the 1970s the political climate was conservative. The Prime Minister, Malcolm Fraser coined the term 'life wasn't meant to be easy' when the Australian work-force questioned the state of the economy. With the increasing interest rates, unions demanded wage rises to keep up with prices as well as a thirty-five hour working week. This time was also the time of increased information technology as the microchip and laser moved from the research laboratory into wider usage. In counterpoint to this was a growing concern over environmental issues with public dissatisfaction over such issues as the damming of the Franklin River in South West Tasmania.

Community orientated art activities expressing cultural values emerged as a strong force with expression being found through political murals, street theatre and trade union art movements. The counter-culture also found expression in punk music and fashion. Performance art and conceptual art had also now become part of mainstream art practice with important events such as the Mildura Sculpture Triennial.

Background
Hickey studied design and illustration at Swinburne Technical College, Melbourne, between 1954 and 1957. For the next two years he worked as a graphic designer in industry and with ABC television. He undertook further art study in the United States and Europe in 1971 and 1977. Over the years the subject matter of his art has changed greatly. At various times he has painted landscapes, but in the late 1970s he chose the bush at Cottlesbridge, close to his Melbourne outer suburban home at Eltham, as the subject for a series of paintings.

Influence
With his graphics background, Hickey's art has retained a concern for surface quality, so much so that his works oscillate between being paintings of flat patterns and three-dimensional objects. He has a conceptual approach to the subject matter of his art, that is, the notion that the idea or concept of the painting is more important than the finished work. Two fellow Melbourne artists who share this concern are Robert Rooney and Ti Parks. Like most artists, a wide range of artistic styles have influenced Hickey - impressionism, naturalism, tonalism, minimalism, etc. On the surface some of these art 'isms' appear opposed to each other, but Hickey has taken from them what he needs for his individual artistic style.

Technique and Materials
Hickey's painting technique varies continually depending on the subject matter. Most of his works are done in the studio, but some have been painted on location outdoors. He maintains sketch-books, but he uses drawing as a discipline in itself and as a notional guide for projected paintings. Discrete elements of his drawings can be found in his paintings, but there is generally no direct link between them.

For Cottlesbridge landscape Hickey first executed a charcoal outline drawing on a white ground canvas and then added his colours. Colour areas he thought unsuitable were either scraped back and repainted or another colour was painted over the still wet original paint.

The Painting
Cottlesbridge landscape can best be appreciated by first placing it in the overall development of Hickey's own art and concerns and then by placing it in the traditional landscape theme of Australian art.

Hickey's art has been concerned with enlivening the psychological reality of various urban objects, such as tiles (Untitled), a drinking mug (Cup painting) and even, as in this painting, the urban bush at Cottlesbridge, located on the outskirts of suburban Melbourne. Although the objects in his art differ, the concerns are basically the same. All these objects are, as Hickey said, 'in my head as much as in front of me'. For Hickey his task is to render the objects as he perceives them, which will disorient the viewer to various degrees and then allow the viewer to see the object anew with fresh perception. His paintings make an enquiry into art, for he has even termed his series of Cottlesbridge landscapes 'Cottlesbridge cubism'. In this painting our perception must therefore interpret the ambiguities between natural and artifical colour and pattern and between the cubist ambiguity of flat and three-dimensional space.