Regional Arts House in Teneriffe is proud to present the opening of ‘Equilibrium’, an exhibition of mixed media paintings by artist Ngaio Lenz.
Mackay-based artist with a Masters of Contemporary Art, Ngaio has had many solo exhibitions in Queensland and Victoria, and has developed a method of painting which allows her to recreate the vintage and weathered surfaces she is drawn to. “These works are a balance to the fast pace of modern life and a way of feeling connected to nature and the gentle softness of a weathered surface,” Lenz explains.
“'Equilibrium' is an exploration of the organic shapes of the natural environment. They are the shapes and surfaces I am drawn to in a world of harsh sharp edges and cold interiors.”
Lenz’s paintings are created by the building up of many layers of oil, acrylic and bitumen paints, and then the removal with etching tools, scrapers, and sandpaper at various stages of drying. Each painting is destroyed many times before Ngaio feels she has achieved the surface she is happy with. Her intention is to develop surfaces that have a sense of history and a story to tell.
“The works are an attempt to locate poetry in the relationships, combinations and interactions of materials and physical elements. Informed by natural process, weather, time, cause and effect, my works celebrate an aesthetic of imperfection. For me there is integrity in the rawness of a material in its most exposed state, and a truth and connection in a surface that has revealed its many layers.
“It is the removal and stripping back of layers that has become the integral part of my process, allowing truths to be exposed, as the surfaces reveal themselves.”'Equilibrium' exhibits at the Regional Arts House, 7 May - 4 July.
