Breaking illusion – Abstraction in Action
21st March 2025
Breaking Illusion (Abstraction in Action) is an exhibition by two Tasmanian abstract artists Caroline McGregor and Betty Nolan, who make art with little reference to observed reality and Jack Braudis, an artist whose practice is all about observation.
Jack Braudis is known as a consummate plein air painter who can be found behind his easel depicting the rivers and fields of Southern Tasmania. However, anyone who has watched outdoor painters will understand the requirement for speed, rapid brushwork and the ability to create a line of best fit between what is seen and what should be depicted. This current expressive body of work uses the exuberant brushwork of a fine painter and his extensive knowledge of oil painting to make art that expresses a poetic sensibility that far exceeds the visible.
In the work of Caroline McGregor the artists hand is minimal, thoughtful and restrained. Eschewing colour, her black and white charcoal drawings and oils apply and erase a tonality that expresses emotion and memory. Concerned with the liminal, that space between one thing and another her sculptural and painted pieces usually evoke doorways, dawn and the end of light. This current body of work is intensely personal expressing a cycle of loss, emotional resilience and rebirth.
Betty Nolan is also an oil painter but embraces colour as part of her abstract narrative. Her themes are around creativity, feminism and corporeality. Using techniques that combine expressionist application with drawing her large works depict an artificial space where forms collide and dance.
