Looking (after)
looking, an exhibition with Tess Horwitz, 13 - 22 May 2022, Narooma Gallery
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Looking, a collection of small works that reflect on the natural world by Tess Horwitz and Barbara McConchie. This exhibition of drawings, collages, watercolours and paintings invite different ways of looking and imagining. Detailed studies of remnant objects such as shells, bones, and seed pods, are juxtaposed with wider landscapes, exploring the intricacy, wonder and vulnerability of nature.
Tess describes her work as recording ‘tiny worlds of wonderment’. She notes that: “Seeds, shells and bones are superb designs. They are tools for procreation, protection and structural integrity. Looking and recording these bits of nature has resulted in a suite of intimate artworks, like the objects themselves. They could be viewed as celebrations of intricacy, also as relics of a dying world.”
Barbara’s work evolved through looking at her late mother’s landscape photos. She says: “Initially I was drawn to remembering her through the act of making small paintings from these images. Then daily early morning walks looking out across mountain ranges or horizon lines became new source material. Each work is not a true reflection of a view, but an amalgam of looking and imagining, with a growing cognisance of the unstable state of our world.”
Post Script:
Tess messaged me out of the blue one day in February 2022.
I’ve got an idea! … Would you be interested in the Melon Gals doing a combined show on loving images of nature??!! Perhaps we could add more participants but you were the first who came to mind cos I have always loved your work. Just a wild suggestion! xx Tess
Of course the answer was a resounding yes. I was having immunotherapy at the time and the suggestion of an exhibition was a welcome invitation and happy diversion for me.
Three months later we had an exhibition in the modest Narooma Gallery. Tess carried through her ideas to create a set of intimate close-ups of natural forms, explorative observations, and was energised by the prospect of celebrating nature. I had several series of small watercolours and drawings, landscapes that began through observation and were reimagined within the studio.
It was a dream show; small, intimate, to the point, not too much work or fuss. We celebrated with our families and friends, and the community of Narooma. Tess and Tony stayed with Jane and I, and together we watched the momentous 2022 Australian federal election unfold - overall it was a memorable 2 weeks.
This was Tess’ last exhibition before her unexpected death on 15 January 2023 - and overnight things changed - as they do. I believe it will not be the last exhibition of Tess’ work that we will see. Tess’ artistic acumen, integrity and creativity was a gift. I have always been struck by her drawings that are simultaneously surface application and 3D construction, mesmerising transformations between figurative shape to loose ends, that like clouds transform the image, the meaning. I love the vigour of her charcoal works that take me into the netherworld of deep imagining. Her belief and ability to make us think about the extraordinary power of art enriched everyone who had the fortune to chat all things art and life with her. Tess, we thank you and we love you.
Visit Tess’ website to see more of her work.
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Image credits top to bottom:
Image 1: Barbara McConchie, Discombobulated Days #6, pencil on hand made paper, 2022. Photography Brenton McGeachie
Image 2: Tess Horwitz, Relic, oil stick, charcoal, ink on paper, 2022. Photography Tess Horwitz
Grid of exhibition installation Photography Brenton McGeachie
Image 4: Tess Horwitz, Narooma Gallery 2022. Photography Louise Whyte
Image 5: Tess Horwitz. Photography Eva Schroeder
