2020 > Expressive Forms > Painting > Saskia Teale

Saskia Teale

Roseville College

IN-FINITE

Painting

My work is an expression of my affinity and love for the desert landscape, particularly Uluru. It also expresses my concern for the damage inflicted on our precious natural environment. It was a breathtaking experience standing at the base of Uluru – a solid and enduring site. Using both memory and my photographs, I painted my own representations of the landscape. The work explores the disparity between the earth's natural and enduring phenomenon of Uluru, where change occurs across millennia, with the ephemeral nature of our consumerist society. The title suggests a comparison of the naturally infinite with our increasingly finite resources.

My artmaking practice has been influenced by the study and interpretation of the artist Euan MacLeod.

Marker's Commentary

Raw sensuousness is combined with spiritual strength in these paintings, inviting the audience to explore a range of associations from visceral bodyscapes to grand landscape vistas depicting rock surfaces, cavernous spaces and aerial views. Dramatic forms make up these paintings with the palette of the rock outcrops essentially being comprised of modulated reds with deep tones of rich burnt umber. They create the folds of the weathered rock, set against the intense blue sky. Strength and beauty is evoked in the remote outback settings supported by the opulent intensity in the palette.