Have you ever immersed yourself in Claude Monet’s Cycle of the Water Lilies (Nymphéas) at the Musée de l’Orangerie in Paris? For any disciple of painting, it is an overwhelmingly joyful experience where pictorial form becomes subordinate to the essence of life. Line and colour dance across the vast oval room, harmonising the picture plane throughout its 360 degrees. The artist's carefully manicured garden at Giverny was the inspiration. The extent of the project knew no bounds; it was to be the ultimate cathartic exercise in the artist's love of light and life.

The understated grandness of Monet’s masterpiece remained unchallenged for me until I walked into Suzanne Archer's bush studio west of Sydney a year ago. The feeling of Giverny is strong, and like Monet, she constantly draws from her immediate world. It has been a lifetime devoted to the intertwining imagery of the Australian bush and coastal landscapes. In her work, the vastness is evident; however, it is with the more introverted minor moments that appear like jewels in the crown — visual surprises that focus and delight. A shell from the beach, a broken palm frond, or burnt seed pods and feathers come into focus as we are enveloped in her world.

Archer is an enigmatic artist. Transcending the literal, her imagery is often subliminally coded, transporting the viewer to somehow familiar yet beautifully strange places. Her painting methodology can be wonderfully confounding. Is she painting or drawing? For her, they are one and the same. There is a quality in her painting surface that evokes a sensation in the grand tapestry tradition beginning in the 1500s, where the literal weaving of colour and form into a narrative was central to the vision of its creator.

The sensation of grandeur is most evident in the recent monumental painting Quarry Bombo - South Coast. Pulsating with energy, its five-metre length ebbs and flows, echoing the waves that break over it. It is a landscape marked by man yet it is in the process of being reclaimed by nature. The mark-making enhances the composition, captivating the viewer and offering the freedom to explore the intricacies and hints of its place. Rewarding rigorous interrogation by the viewer, it is the ultimate treasure hunt as individual passages of paint reveal themselves over time.

Archer has a revered place in the contemporary canon of Australian painting. Never curtailing to artistic or curatorial fashion, she has nothing to prove to an art world constantly in search of affirmation. Despite her singular vision, her extensive career to date has seen her win the Wynne Prize for landscape painting and The Dobell Prize for drawing, coupled with her inclusion in the NGA, NGV, Art Gallery of NSW, and numerous regional gallery permanent collections.

Suzanne Archer’s connection to place is absolute, and our understanding of this land is enriched by her hand.

Ralph Hobbs
August, 2024

READ ARTICLE  "A Valedictory End to Things" by Rex Butler, ART COLLECTOR Jul-Sep, 2024, p154-165