ROBYN SWEANEY

10 – 21 november 2009

iain dawson gallery

Above - Old Pacific Highway #2 acrylic on poly canvas 61 x 61cm

ROBYN SWEANEY

10 – 21 november 2009

iain dawson gallery

"My portraits of houses are really mementos, keepsakes

for the future or for myself. These humble, simple

homes, depicting the outside view from the street, are

like a stage setting, a facade for the bigger memories

and lives that have existed and still do, behind the

walls."

Robyn Sweaney 2009

"Robyn Sweaney’s latest body of work comprising still

life paintings, portraits of vernacular architecture and

house money boxes with patterns derived from flora all

directly negotiate her connection with Mullumbimby,

the town in which she currently lives and works.

Through the various parts of this new work, Sweaney

communicates a distinctly local aesthetic yet

characteristically universal experience of what a

connection with place might mean, and how places

despite their localised experience are never static. For

Sweaney especially, the role of documenting the

numerous evolutions places go through over time is

intrinsic to understanding this body of work.”

Excerpt from an essay by Lisa Byrne, Director, Faculty Gallery

Monash Art & Design. The publication Robyn Sweaney: The House

Beautiful was published by Lismore Regional Gallery with a grant

from NAVA (National Association of Visual Artists)

Above right – Heading South acrylic on poly canvas 56 x 67cm

Below right – Where to now? acrylic on poly canvas 56 x 67cm

ROBYN SWEANEY

10 – 21 november 2009

iain dawson gallery

I first saw Robyn Sweaney's exquisite paintings

when I was invited to a curatorial panel event by

the Visual Arts Network and Arts Northern

Rivers in 2006. What immediately enthralled me

was Robyn's attention to detail and obsessive

capturing of the scene's she surrounds herself

with. The stillness of the works and the

contemplation on these uniquely Australian

dwellings work strongly on many levels. Firstly

the paintings and drawings are aesthetically

beautiful and incredibly evocative. Secondly, I'm

increasingly fascinated by the subjects of these

works, these wonderful houses, soon to be lost to

the collective consciousness, superseded by the

'McMansions' of the new millennia. Robyn's

works are a link to our heritage, our collective

nostalgia for a simpler, less flashy world.

Iain Dawson, 2009

Far from the city

acrylic on poly canvas

47 x 100cm

Finalist, Sulman prize 2009

Art Gallery of New South Wales 

ROBYN SWEANEY

10 – 21 november 2009

iain dawson gallery

Left to right – The Wish acrylic on canvas 36 x 28cm Day dreaming acrylic on canvas 36 x 28cm

Once acrylic on canvas 36 x 28cm

iain dawson gallery 72a windsor street paddington nsw 2021

+61 2 9358 4337 gallery@iaindawson.com iaindawson.com