Nocte Luna
6th November
Nocte Luna means the moon at night in Latin.
With a Masters in Fine Art from the National Art School in Darlinghurst Caroline McGregor brings a considerable artistic vision to her new Tasmanian home. Painter and sculptor, she has titled her first Nolan Gallery solo Nocte Luna, describing her elegant monochromatic works in a way that evokes quiet communion under southern skies. Gunmetal and silver, the evening light on the d’Entrecasteaux Channel limns distant landforms unchanged for millennia. No buildings, no ships, simply marks in oil paint layered, erased, rubbed and blended.
The process is more about what it chooses to omit than depict and has its roots in the reductive abstractionism of Mark Rothko and Barnett Newman. Much further back however are other influences on her, with the sublime landscapes of Caspar Von Friedrich and JMW Turner. Standing on a cliff (or at her window) the artist looks toward the sea, where rain and storms have implications for those at sea. Portentous skies foretell change to those who inhabit the shore.
The shores of the d’Entrecasteaux Channel are a traditional home to Tasmanian palawa people and a site of sad memories. The whaling industry was here, and fisheries remain so the viewer can choose to colour the vista with their own perceptions. For the artist however, the splendid view of the night on the channel lit by the moon is inspiration enough.
