Soundings: Brett McMahon
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Opening Drinks
Thursday, 25 June, 2026"Decades of closely observing coastal bushland and its intricate networks of growth and renewal has utterly consumed his process. The result is a blistering field of colour and movement created through tension and continual transformation." - Anthea Mentzalis
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Ralph Hobbs
June, 2026In the Age of Sail, mariners used a long, lead-weighted line cast from a ship’s bow in uncharted or tidal waters to gauge the depth beneath the keel. “Soundings” was a means of navigating what could not be seen. Over time, the nautical term has migrated into everyday vernacular, now signifying the act of probing, testing, and seeking understanding beneath the surface of things.
Brett McMahon works with a frenetic energy as though the marks he makes will determine his very survival. In this sense, the artist becomes like the sailor; taking soundings, searching for a way forward through uncertain waters. Each line is both a measure and a question, a means of navigating the unseen.
He pushes the possibilities of image-making, restless in his search for a renewed vision of the world. Challenging aesthetic conventions, compelling us to see differently. Here, the sounding line has been replaced by the drawn line. Constantly in motion, it becomes a dynamic, tangled mass that envelops the picture's surface, linking and harmonising the eccentricities of the artist's mind.
The challenge of abstraction is that its conclusion is not always obvious. Indeed, the point at which a painting is finished is often open to interpretation. Yet the great moments of abstraction culminate in a sense of finality, a seemingly effortless balance that reveals the artist's intention.
The genesis of this exhibition lies in the coastal bushland near his home on the mid-coast of NSW, where he often walks, and where shifting sands echo the effects of wind, sun, and rain. In recent years, this place has become something of an obsession—a site of meditative contemplation and an escape from a complicated world. Subtle shifts in the bush's form provide a backdrop for the vibrant colour of the wildflowers woven through the undergrowth. Birds bounce from limb to limb, their calls and songs inhabiting this invisible space.
Juxtaposed with the major wildflower paintings is a body of black-and-white works. Stripped back and gestural, they reveal the sensitivity of the artist's touch. Calligraphic in nature, they embody the Eastern tradition of dynamic inkwork. Philosophically, they form the foundation of the exhibition, acting like a spine from which everything extends.
In Soundings, McMahon offers us a maximal experience of the landscape while also delving into the minutiae we often pass by. Beyond its aesthetic beauty lies something of fundamental importance. It is a poignant reminder that life is fleeting, and that the experiences beyond the omnipresent virtual world are the bedrock of our very existence.
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