gordon shepherdson

The drama of Gordon Shepherdson’s paintings, their wrestle with human demons, and their engagement with the moment, is held, suspended in the quality of their paint. Their consistency over decades is remarkable and some of these paintings, decades old, appear as fresh as if painted yesterday.

Pam Bell evoked the Spanish concept of the duende in a 1978 essay, suggesting that, ‘… it is essential to the nature of Shepherdson and the way that he works, psyched up with the tension and energy of a boxer as if for a physical struggle’.1 The muscularity in the paintings is key to his best known motif of the dying bull (drawn from decades of working in an abattoir), but also speaks to the existential struggle of humanity.

It is all the more poignant that this exhibition was selected as the Shepherdson family reluctantly moved Gordon, now aged 83, into a nursing facility to care for his increasingly frail body. The paintings span 1988 to 2016, and present many of his familiar motifs. Most recent are three still life paintings, explosive colour within a darkly resonant background. Still life (2015) shows yellow flowers with greenery in a white bowl like a ghost, with its white vase/shadow speaking to the figurative shadow paintings which are stimulated, as is much of his work, by Samuel Beckett’s writing.

Shadow watching owner (1995) is amongst the powerhouse paintings in this exhibition. Central is the painterly figure, rendered in white over which darker tones have settled. The moon to the top left of the painting has broken free of the cloud to shine on the figure and the whites of the watching shadow’s eye. The dynamic red which Shepherdson has always used selectively lights up the night sky, while the horizon-free landscape pits humanity up against its search for meaning.

Shepherdson painted birds from memory, observed over decades fishing in Moreton Bay. Aerial (albatross and eagle) (1987) shows the birds from above, caught in a monumental struggle between heaven and earth. Ode to a giant petrel

(1997) sees the bird fixing us with its eye while its wings are spread, angelic. The density of colour, the deep greens and flashes of red in this painting, together with the translucent blue of the ocean on a fine day, fix it in the mind.

Other motifs also emerged from this active engagement in the natural world and empathetic observation of its creatures — the human figure, swimmers, waders, winged figures, and still life. It has been a singularly romantic pursuit of a vision which he has always suggested is for his own satisfaction, ‘an audience of one’, yet transcends its own place and time. The darkness in the work extends the space and silence that Shepherdson has worked to perfect. Throughout his decades of painting the work has become increasingly reductionist, with motifs crystallised, reduced to their essential qualities. The evening landscapes (Last moon, March, 1988) draw the eye, and their darknesses are seductive, drawing us down. Yet the glow of the moon, the nuances of colour in the landscape, the flash of light, throw us a line so as not to drown. Bullock and still life in dark landscape (2008) lock together life and death, with blood running from the animal’s death wound and nostrils, like tears over a white vase.

David Burnett curated Marks + Moments (1997), the Queensland Art Gallery survey of Shepherdson’s paintings. His view, as 2017 drew to a close, was that Shepherdson has offered a deeply personal contribution to Australian painting. ‘He is anchored in this place, and painted images of where he’s at and where he’s been. While there are only a handful of motifs in his repertoire, revisited and reinterpreted throughout his career, he has responded in a personal and very direct way to the space and silences of the here and now, the things that are important to him.’

Louise Martin-ChewDecember 2017

1. Pamela Bell, ‘Gordon Shepherdson’, Art & Australia, Vol 15 No 4, Winter, June 1978: pp.380–388.

… the light gleams an instant, then it’s night once moreSamuel Beckett, Waiting for Godot

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philip bacon invites you to the exhibition opening and drinks 2–4pm saturday, 17th february 2018

cover: 6. Morning Redland Bay, 21 May 1997 1997 oil and enamel on paper 117 x 109 cm

1. Aerial (albatross and eagle) 1987 oil and enamel on paper 68.5 x 72 cm

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3. High swans 1993 oil and enamel on paper 118 x 119 cm

opposite: 2. Picking the apple 1988 oil and enamel on paper 90 x 99 cm

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9. Kneeling figure in landscape 2000 oil and enamel on paper 42 x 42.5 cm

8. Seated in dark landscape 2000 oil and enamel on paper 47 x 42.5 cm

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4. Shadow watching owner 1995 oil and enamel on paper 121 x 111 cm

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10. Still life 2003 oil and enamel on paper 63 x 67.5 cm

7. Last moon, March 1998 oil and enamel on paper 94 x 109 cm

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5. Ode to a giant petrel 1997 oil and enamel on paper 108 x 123 cm

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12. Bullock hanging in dark landscape 2004 oil and enamel on paper 100 x 108 cm

opposite: 11. Standing figure with fractured landscape 2004 oil and enamel on french dessin 111.8 x 101 cm

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13. Evening landscape 2005 oil and enamel on paper 77 x 92 cm

14. Maleny landscape 2007 oil and enamel on paper 90.5 x 44.5 cm

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15. Bullock and still life in dark landscape 2008 oil and enamel on paper 99.5 x 106 cm

gordon shepherdson Born Brisbane, 1934After a period spent working as a jackaroo in the Longreach area of Queensland, Shepherdson began attending night classes with Caroline Baker at the Royal Queensland Art Society in the early 1950s. Completing only one term with Arthur Evan Reid at the Central Technical College, he left to attend classes held by the Modernists Andrew Sibley and Jon Molvig in the early 1960s. Shepherdson held his first solo exhibition in 1964 with The Slaughter Yard series at The Johnstone Gallery, a seminal exhibition recording his experiences and thoughts of working in a Brisbane abattoir. This exhibition led to shows with Rudy Komon in Sydney throughout the 1960s. During this time his work was selected for a group exhibition of contemporary Australian painting arranged by the Contemporary Art Society of NSW, which was exhibited in Los Angeles and San Francisco. In the mid-1970s, Shepherdson began to exhibit with Philip Bacon Galleries and in 1977 a survey exhibition of his work was curated by the University of Queensland Art Museum. Shepherdson’s work was included in a number of group exhibitions curated by the Queensland Art Gallery in the 1980s, culminating in Marks and Moments: Paintings by Gordon Shepherdson, a survey exhibition of his work in 1977.

solo exhibitions2018 Philip Bacon Galleries, Brisbane2017 Paintings for an Audience of One: Work from the

1990s, Nicholas Thompson Gallery, Melbourne2015 A Small Survey of Work, Nicholas Thompson

Gallery, Melbourne2013 Philip Bacon Galleries, Brisbane2010 Postcards and other paintings, Philip Bacon

Galleries, Brisbane2006, 2002 Philip Bacon Galleries, Brisbane2001 Brian Moore Gallery, Sydney2000 Philip Bacon Galleries, Brisbane1997 Philip Bacon Galleries, Brisbane

Marks + Moments, survey exhibition, Queensland Art Gallery

1994, 1992, 1989, 1986 Philip Bacon Galleries, Brisbane

1984 Solander Gallery, Canberra Philip Bacon Galleries, Brisbane

1982, 1980, 1979 Philip Bacon Galleries, Brisbane1977 Survey exhibition, University of Queensland

Art Museum, Brisbane1976 Philip Bacon Galleries, Brisbane1972 Reid Gallery, Brisbane1968 Rudy Komon Gallery, Sydney1967 Grand Central Galleries, Brisbane1965 The Slaughter Yard, Georges Gallery, Melbourne

The Slaughter Yard, Rudy Komon Gallery, Sydney

1964 The Slaughter Yard, The Johnstone Gallery, Brisbane

group exhibitions2017 Ecstacy: Baroque & Beyond, UQ Art Museum,

Brisbane2015 GOMA Q: Contemporary Queensland Art,

Queensland Art Gallery | Gallery of Modern Art, Brisbane

2014 Remembering Brian & Marjorie Johnstone’s Galleries, UQ Art Museum, Brisbane

2013 New V3: Recent Acquisitions, UQ Art Museum, Brisbane

2011 New 2011: Recent Acquisitions, UQ Art Museum, Brisbane

2009 Between reality and non-reality: Works by Jon Molvig and Gordon Shepherdson, QUT Art Museum, Brisbane

2002 Naked, Brian Moore Gallery, Sydney1995 A time remembered: Art in Brisbane 1950–1975,

Queensland Art Gallery1991 Diverse visions, Queensland Art Gallery, Brisbane1988 Painters and sculptors: Diversity in contemporary

art, Museum of Modern Art, Saitama, Japan1987 Painters and sculptors: Diversity in contemporary

art, Queensland Art Gallery, Brisbane1986 Five Queensland painters, Queensland Art Gallery1985 Exhibition of still lifes, Philip Bacon Galleries,

Brisbane1983 Acquisitions 1973-1983, UQ Art Museum,

Brisbane1982 Georges Invitation Prize Exhibition, Melbourne1979 MacPherson, Shepherdson, Staunton, UQ Art

Museum, Brisbane1966 Design Arts Centre, Brisbane

Contemporary Australian Painting, Australian Trade Display, Los Angeles

1965 The Johnstone Gallery, Brisbane1962 Moriarty – Shepherdson, Hardy Brothers,

Brisbane1961 Travel Inn art panels, Festival Hall, Brisbane

public collectionsNational Gallery of Australia, CanberraNational Gallery of Victoria, MelbourneQueensland Art Gallery | Gallery of Modern Art,

BrisbaneGriffith University, BrisbaneQUT Art Museum, BrisbaneUQ Art Museum, BrisbaneArt Gallery of BallaratGold Coast City Art GalleryIpswich Art GalleryLismore Regional Art GalleryMoreton Bay Regional CouncilMornington Peninsula Regional GalleryMuseum of BrisbaneNewcastle Art GalleryRockhampton Art GalleryStanthorpe Regional Art GalleryToowoomba Regional Art Gallery

17. Still life 2015 oil and enamel on paper 61 x 57 cm

18. Float bowl III 2016 oil and enamel on paper 39 x 44 cm

19. Float bowl IV 2016 oil and enamel on paper 48 x 54 cm

16. Dark ocean of dark eyes with wind 2009 oil and enamel on paper 105 x 111 cm

exhibition current: 13 february – 10 march 2018

2 arthur street, fortitude valley, brisbane · 10.00am – 5.00pm tues to sat ph 07 3358 3555 fax 07 3254 1412 · email: info@philipbacongalleries.com.au