NIGHT VISIONSTrent  Parke,  Waratah  Lahy,  Andrew  Browne,  Mark  Kimber,  Dinni  Kunoth  Kemarre,  Josie  Kunoth  Petyarre,  Marc  de  Jong,  Greg  Weight,  David  Stephenson,  Gulumbu  Yunupingu,    Dennis  Nona,  Jon  Cattapan,  Viv  Miller

15  DECEMBER  2012  -­‐  3  FEBRUARY  2013  

front  cover:Trent  Parke  Midnight  self-­‐portrait,  Menindee  Outback  NSW  series:  Minutes  to  Midnight    2004  Pigment  print,  30  x  45cm  

NIGHT VISIONSTrent  Parke,  Waratah  Lahy,  Andrew  Browne,  Mark  Kimber,  Dinni  Kunoth  Kemarre,  Josie  Kunoth  Petyarre,  Marc  de  Jong,  Greg  Weight,  David  Stephenson,  Gulumbu  Yunupingu,    Dennis  Nona,  Jon  Cattapan,  Viv  Miller

01

The  night  is  a  vast  and  universal  theme.  As  Gulumbu  Yunupingu  said  so  poetically;  “the  stars  show  us  that  we  are  all  the  same  underneath.  We  can  all  look  at  these  stars  whichever  sky  we  are  looking  at.”

Night   Visions   is   a   beautiful   exhibition   which   features   works   by   contemporary   Australian  artists  exploring  various  aspects  of  the  night  in  an  Australian  landscape.  It  brings  together  an  

esteemed  list  of  artists,  a  number  of  whom,  most  notably  Jon  Cattapan,  Mark  Kimber,  Andrew  

Browne  and  Trent  Parke,  have  explored  the  theme  of  night  over  consecutive  series.  

The  exhibition  gets  to  the  very  essence  of  night  –  capturing  the  charge  of  night;  actual  and  

the  spaciousness  of  the  night,  and  negotiates  country  from  parts  of  the  Northern  Territory,  to  

Melbourne  and  the  Torres  Strait.  In  its  exclusive  attention  to  the  night,  it  also  speaks  about  the  

absence  of  day.

This  exhibition  was  conceived  by   the  Gallery’s  curator,  Kezia  Geddes.   I  congratulate  her  on  

her  vision  for  this  project.  We  would  like  to  thank  all  the  artists  and  lenders  for  supporting  

Brisbane;  Milani  Gallery,  Brisbane;  Stills  Gallery,  Sydney;  The  Australian  Art  Print  Network,  

Sydney;  Martin  Browne  Contemporary,  Sydney;  Sullivan+Strumpf  Fine  Art,  Sydney;  Australian  

Galleries,   Sydney;   Brenda  May   Gallery,   Sydney;   The  Mossenson   Galleries,  Melbourne;   John  

Buckley  Gallery,  Melbourne  and  Neon  Parc,  Melbourne.  Thanks  also  go  to  Aruna  Pavithran  and  

Amanda  Hall  and  Nick  Edwards.  Additional  thanks  go  to  Amy  Miller  and  Hobie  Porter.

Brett  Adlington

Director,  Lismore  Regional  Gallery

The   other   night   I  went  walking.   I  was   occupied   by   the   fullness   of   a   day,  which   had  

pushed  me  about   from  one   task   to   the  next.  My  mind  recalled  problems   it  had  been  

confronted  with  several  hours  earlier.  It  ran  them  round  in  circles,  not  to  solve  them,  

but  to  tire  them  out.  I  anticipated  a  sleepless  night,  and  pushed  tentatively  into  the  dark  

air  outside.  

The  night  wrapped  around  me,  perfumed  with  wet  bitumen  and  night  jasmine.  Far  from  

being  blinded  by  darkness,  the  light  that  was  there  selected  a  vision  that  was  different  

from  that  of  the  day.  Illuminated  objects  were  thrown  into  focus  and  the  space  around  

Night  Visions  is  an  exhibition  that  examines  what  the  night  makes  visible.  At  night,  gaps  

to  tell  true  stories  outside  what  the  naked  eye  can  comprehend.  It  also  pays  heed  to  the  

rich  references  to  the  night  sky  in  traditional  Indigenous  cultures.  

The  artists  in  the  exhibition  present  an  image  of  the  nocturnal  landscape.  Their  works,  

divergent  at  some  points  and  overlapping  in  others,  embody  a  point  of  difference  that  

enables  us  to  embark  on  a  fresh  voyage  of  seeing.  

The  dark  

The  cloak  of  night   lets  us  relax   the  good  behaviour   the  day  requires.  We  can  be  more  

erratic,  more  outrageous,  tragic,  intoxicated.  Trent  Parke’s  photographic  series,  Minutes  to  Midnight,  was  commenced  in  2003  to  present  an  image  of  outback  Australia  that  we  

version  is  menacing.  Travelling  90,000  miles,  he  ventured  into  every  nook  and  cranny  he  

Trent  Parke  Light  Bulb,  Caravan  Park,  QLD  series:  Minutes  to  Midnight  2004  

30  x  45cm,  courtesy  of  the   0302

Trent  Parke  Caravan  Park,  QLD  series:  Minutes  to  Midnight  

30  x  45cm,  courtesy  of  the  

Emotional  portraits  of  their  time,  the  photographs  present  as  fragments  of  dreams  and  

nightmares  that  we  piece  together  to  locate  a  storyboard  and  disjointed  narrative.  They  

are  linked  by  a  disjuncture  that  the  romantic  perception  of  the  Australian  way  of  life  

and  the  more  complex  reality  don’t  match  up.  We  see  a  small  boy,  his  face  illuminated  

clinging  to  a  light  bulb;  and  a  hills  hoist  with  Australia’s  national  dress,  the  wife-­‐beater  

tank,  neatly  pegged  to  it.  They  have  a  menacing,  ghostly  presence.  The  overall  picture  of  

the  series  holds  an  implication  of  things  about  to  come  undone.  

Waratah  Lahy  draws  her  imagery  from  suburban  Australia  and  similarly  to  Parke,  she  

uses   the  night   to  conjure  a  sense  of  disturbance.  Her  work  represents   the  good   life;  

with   family,   friends,   booze   and   the   suburban   environment.   Painted   onto   glasses  we  

know  well   as  vessels   for  our   favourite  bevies,  Lahy  makes  a  playful   comment  about  

Australian   culture,   and   its  unsteady  priorities.  As   familiar   as  her   imagery   is,  we  are  

distinctly  removed  from  it.  Distorted  according  to  the  form  of  the  glass,  it  is  as  though  

Lahy’s  painted  miniatures  are  caught  in  amber.

With  Andrew  Browne’s  painting  Washington  study  #3,  sensing  the  branches  of  a  tree  

Waratah  Lahy    Nightlife  (Prunus)    2008  

04

Waratah  Lahy  Nightlife  (Pink  People)    2008  

Washington  study  #3      2011  

07

painting  conjures  up  childhood  memories  of  when,  upon  venturing  into  the  undergrowth  

too  deeply,  we  realised  the  possibility  that  it  might  have  powers  unanticipated.  Perhaps  

the  bushes,  speaking  in  their  creaks  and  groans,  might  abduct  or  disorient  us,  preventing  

our  escape  towards  the  safely  of  sunlight.  

Tone   is   a   powerful   ingredient   in   emphasising   a   theatrical  malice   of   night.   A   naked,  

tangled  canopy  shimmers  silver  against  deep  velvety  blacks.  Browne’s  tree  is  bent  and  

formed  from  his  imagination.  It  has  grown  up  from  an  amalgamation  of  images  of  real  

proportion  of  its  genealogy.  

With  electricity,  we  have  knocked  urban  spaces  back  to  a  more  comfortable  mid-­‐tone.  

This  eases  our  fear  of  the  dark  but  does  not  erase  it.  The  unknown  still  clings  to  this  half-­‐

light.  Mark  Kimber’s  cityscapes  in  his  Edgelandand  colour.  The  poetry  of   twilight  mixes  with  an  electrical   light,  which  offers  shelter  

from  the  shadows.  By  day,  these  industrial  sites  are  predictable,  utterly  ordinary.  But  the  

breath  of  night  places  them  in  the  territory  of  the  sublime  –  beautiful  but  uninhabitable.  

08

Mark  Kimber  Car  wash    2008  series:  Edgeland  

Here  appear  blank  stages,  familiar  on  one  hand,  unreal  and  unsettling  on  the  other.

In  contrast  to  Kimber,  Josie  Kunoth  Petyarre  and  Dinni  Kunoth  Kemarre  present  their  

experience   of   the   city   lights   as   exhilarating   and   joyous.  When   in   2007,   these   two  

Mossenson,  was  struck  at  how  captivated   they  both  were  by   this   large  metropolis.  

Returning  home  to  their  traditional  lands  on  the  remote  outstation  of  Pungalindum,  

by  what  they  saw.

In  her  painting  of  Melbourne  at  night,  Josie  Kunoth  Petyarre  applies  a  painterly  logic  

Minnie   Pwerle,   Kathleen   Petyarre   and   Gladdy   Kemarre.   The   stories   these   great  

artists  painted  about  were  occupied  with  traditional  themes.  Now  an  elder  herself,  

Kunoth  Petyarre  typically  draws  inspiration  from  her  traditional  knowledge,  whilst  

integrating  a  landscape  of  her  immediate  circumstance.  Melbourne  at  Night  presents  an  enlightening  image  of  the  urban  landscape  as  seen  from  a  radically  different  cultural  

background.   The  pictorial   language   of   the  Western  Desert   painting   tradition,   such  

09

Mark  Kimber  Southbound    2008  series:  Edgeland  

handling  of  paint,  is  applied  to  rendering  this  vibrant  scene  of  the  city  at  night.  

Marc  de  Jong’s  Lightening  3

acrylic  on  canvas,  the  artwork  itself  emits  light.  Charged  by  exposure  to  light,  it  glows  in  low  lumen  whilst  it  

holds  this  memory  of  light.  It  succinctly  translates  the  utter  wonder  of  light  and  dark  as  actual  entities.

The  stars

Not  only   is   the  sky   in   the  desert   free  of   light  pollution,  when   the  sun   is  very  active   in   the  day   the  night  sky  

appears  brighter.  This  luminosity  comes  from  a  natural  airglow,  which  arises  as  the  atoms  and  molecules  in  the  

air  lose  the  solar  energy  charge  they  have  absorbed  by  day.  Greg  Weight  and  David  Stephenson  both  travelled  to  

the  desert  in  the  centre  of  Australia  to  photograph  the  stars.  

in  the  discipline  of  non-­‐manipulated  photographs,  but  his  camera  and  command  of  its  settings  permit  incredible  

Stephenson  approaches  his  abstract  star  drawings  with  the  same  awe  of  his  subject  and  the  ancient  light  of  the  

stars.  He  turns  his  lens  upward  and  photographs  the  sky  using  long  exposures.  The  stars  and  planets  draw  a  little  

11

Dinni  Kunoth  Kemarre  Melbourne  at  night    2010  

image  right:  

Lightening  3    2011  

East  of  Emily  with  Meteorite

12

silver  trail  as  they  journey  past  his  lens.  In  this  way  Stephenson  integrates  a  magical  element  of  the  sky  that  we  

could  not  possibly  see.

Traditional  stories  in  Aboriginal  and  Torres  Strait  Islander  cultures  frequently  make  reference  to  the  stars.  Stories  

read  from  the  nocturnal  heavens  are  used  to  pass  on  cultural  knowledge  between  families  over  generations.  The  

appearance  of  the  night  sky  at  different  times  of  year  can  also  mark  the  changing  seasons  and  guide  harvesting  

and  hunting.  

Gulumbu  Yunupingu’s  Ganyu “They  give  us  bush  tucker,  they  multiply  food  in  the  sea”  Yunupingu  explained,  also  pointing  out  that  they  connect  us  as  people  across  cultures  and  race;  “how  can  we  be  separate  if  we’re  all  under  the  same  stars?”.

The  importance  of  the  night  sky  is  apparent  in  the  Torres  Strait,  where  vegetation,  ecosystems,  migration,  and  

breeding   seasons   are   strongly   connected   to   the   appearance  of   particular   stars   and   constellations,   and   their  

position  in  the  sky.  As  seafaring  people,  the  people  of  the  Torres  Strait  also  used  the  night  sky  for  navigation.  

Trephina  Evening    

permanent  pigment  

80  x  120cm  courtesy  of  the  

image  right:    

Star  Drawing  #1207      

photograph  

15

Dennis  Nona  Baidam  Aw  Kuik    2010   Local  Night  Study  No.  1    2010  

3  parts,  50  x  50cm  each  

Baidam,  or  the  shark  constellation,  is  a  constellation  of  seven  stars.  It  is  a  particularly  important   constellation   in   the   Torres   Strait,   and   one   that   frequently   appears   in   the  

work  of  Dennis  Nona.  According  to  Nona;  “The  shark  constellation  rotates  throughout  the  year.  In  February,  when  you  see  the  stars  beginning  to  shine,  that’s  the  shark.”  When  

time  to  plant  particular  vegetables  and  fruit.

between  the  Torres  Strait   Islands  and  New  Guinea.  With  Baidam  Aw  Kuik  he  depicts  Baidam  in  the  seven  inlaid  pearl  shell  stars.  Adorned  and  decorated  skulls  (acquired  in  

their  Papua  New  Guinean  neighbours.

In  the  1940s,  night  vision  devices  were  developed  for  military  use,  where  seeing  in  the  

dark  is  an  obvious  tactical  advantage.  In  2008,  Jon  Cattapan  took  up  a  residency  and  

commission  through  the  Australian  War  Memorial  at  Timor  Leste,  where  he  explored  

the  nature  of  night  vision  technology.  Jon  Cattapan  has  been  interested  in  night  scenes  

and  the  nature  of  nocturnal   light  since  the  mid-­‐1980s.  Local  Night  Study  No.  1  draws  on  his  experience  using  night  vision  goggles,  whilst  also  recalling  ideas,  imagery,  and  a  

sensitivity  to  paint  that  he  has  developed  over  the  course  of  his  career.

left   panel   of   Local   Night   Study   No.   1component   of   this   work,   it   shows   a   city   at   night.   Although   the   title   implies   that  

it   might   be   ‘local’,   the   city   is   a   conglomerate,   standing   in   for   a   universal   city.    

The   other   two   panels   of   the   triptych   contain   dots,   like   code   or   digital   bleeps   of  

information  about  the  world.  These  could  be  slippages;  visual  static  between  an  image  

and  a  blank  screen.  They  speak  about  painterly  concerns  but  equally  draw  the  viewer  

into  a  deeper  engagement  due  to  their  evasive  content.  

Viv  Miller  is  similarly  concerned  with  the  inadequacy  of  painting  to  accurately  translate  

an   image.  Miller’s  Moonlight   is   a   lush   romantic   visualisation   and   a   vague   symbol   of  

1716

18

Moonlight    2005  

102  x  81cm

Neon  Parc

image  back  page:

Melbourne  at  night    2008  

121  x  121  cm    

Courtesy  Mossenson  

nothing  in  particular.  A  kind  of  deep  emptiness.  The  painting  radiates  rigid  pixels  –  

like  a  digital  image  technology  glitching  to  understand  the  ancient  moonlight.  Both  

Miller   and   Cattapan   speak   about   this   by   making   it   impossible   to   attach   a   linear  

narrative   to   their   paintings.   Instead,   they   provide   territory   for   contemplation.  We  

attempt  to  assign  content  to  these  impalpable  tendencies  of  their  work  but  can  only  

assign  possibilities.  As  is  the  case  when  we  cast  our  minds  to  the  voids  of  night.

At  night,  the  lack  of  clear  vision  does  not  obscure  our  sight  –  it  allows  us  to  see  other  

things.  Time  is  liquid,  not  punctuated  by  the  stops  and  starts  of  the  day.  Things  are  

stripped  back   to   their  basic   elements,   to  a   skeleton  of   information.   It   is   as   though  

embrace  of  night.