Wednesday 14th September

Flinders University - Art Museum & City Gallery is an accessible visual arts based cultural facility that serves the University and the community at large through exhibition, research and outreach.



Throughout the history of Australian Art our connection and engagement to the landscape has been a vital component of our national identity. The Spirit in the Land exhibition which was developed by McClelland Gallery+Sculpture Park, has brought together eleven Australian artists to explore this spiritual connection revealing shared subject matter and cultural connections. The exhibition delves into the power of the land and our appreciation of it through contemporary and historical works presented by some of Australia’s most significant artists, both Indigenous and non-Indigenous, such as: Fred Williams, Rover Thomas, Sidney Nolan, Lorraine Connelly-Northey, John Davis, Russell Drysdale, John Olsen, Rosalie Gascoigne, Emily Kame Kngwarreye, Dorothy Napangardi, Lin Onus. 
 

Russell Drysdale - The crow trap 1941
oil on fibro-cement panel
Newcastle Region Art Gallery
Gift of Dr Roland Pope, 1945



Beck Graeber and I attended the Flinders Gallery in the South Australian Library today to survey the current exhibition, Spirit in the Land. We were both particularly fond of the works of Dorothy Napangardi, in particular the Sandhills of Mina Mina, 2000. The muted earthy colours within the works added to their organic allure and had the impression of real depth and movement reminiscent of the landscape she was representing. Her paintings had a real aesthetic appeal and were pleasing to the eye. Additionally I was very drawn to the more contemporary works of Lin Onus whose style is reminicent of European contemporary painting, yet with a magnificent combination of the cross-hatching style for which Arnhem Land is famous.