Melancholy landscape I
(2007)
Medium
synthetic polymer and metallic paint and gouache on canvasboards
Measurements
(a-ttt) 229.4 × 305.5 cm (overall)
Credit Line
National Gallery of Victoria, Melbourne
Purchased, Victorian Foundation for Living Australian Artists, 2008
© Courtesy of the artist
Gallery location
Gallery 10
Level 2, NGV Australia
About this work
This painting belongs to a series of paintings by Imants Tillers known as The Book of Power, with each work comprising small, individually painted canvas boards that form a grid-like structure. Melancholy landscape I was inspired by Tillers’ home, the town of Cooma in New South Wales. The gestural brushstrokes allude to the work of Fred Williams, and the stencilled phrase references Stéphane Mallarmé’s 1897 poem ‘Un coup de dés jamais n’abolira le hasard’ (‘One Toss of the Dice Will Never Abolish Chance’). The work portrays an unforgiving landscape, devoid of any verdant qualities, and questions land ownership in Australian history. It is indicative of Tillers’ approach of appropriating words and imagery to explore the role of the artist in society.
Artwork Details
Place/s of Execution
Cooma, New South Wales
Accession Number
2008.108.a-ttt
Department
Contemporary Art
This digital record has been made available on NGV Collection Online through the generous support of The Vizard Foundation
Subjects (general)
Abstract Art Landscapes Literary and Text
Subjects (specific)
colours (hues or tints) rectangles shape (form attribute) trees