John Archibald’s Crows Nest Gallery exhibition celebrates relics, sculptural forms

John Archibald’s artistic tribute to man-made structures and natural landscapes feature in his exhibition, Enduring Structures and Forms, which will be displayed at Crows Nest Gallery from Wednesday, November 15 to Sunday, December 10, 2023.

Enduring Structures and Forms celebrates relics dotted across southern Queensland and northern New South Wales and sculptural forms in the landscape, both man-made and natural.

Inspired by old sheds and natural formations as metaphors of persistence and endurance, Archibald looks past their weathered and faded exteriors to highlight their timeless beauty.

His paintings reveal newfound structural dynamics, transformed by the ravages of time and weather.

The use of paint and impasto does more than merely record and represent the subjects, but translates what is seen into dynamic, gestural forms.

The exhibition asks the viewer to appreciate the importance of taking a fresh look at their surroundings to find new meaning and beauty in the everyday.

This work has been influenced by Australian artist Robert Barnes, American gestural abstractionists as well as the work of British artists such as David Bomberg, Frank Auerbach and Ivon Hitchens.

Archibald’s approach is summed up by a quote from French artist Henri Matisse: “When I eat a tomato, I look at it the way anyone else would. But when I paint a tomato, then I see it differently.”

John Archibald lives and creates his work in the Toowoomba Region where he has been an art educator and practitioner for more than 50 years.

The exhibition’s Artist Talk event will be held at 11am on Sunday, November 19, 2023. This is a free event and no bookings are required.

For more information, please see: Exhibition | Enduring Structures and Forms - John Archibald

Enquiries about the exhibition can be directed to Crows Nest Gallery on (07) 4698 1687 or [email protected]

Crows Nest Gallery, at the corner of the New England Highway and William Street is open from 10.30am to 3.30pm Wednesday to Sunday. It is closed on Monday, Tuesday and public holidays.

1 John ARCHIBALD / Structure #9 Reckitts Blue (large study) 2017 / oil on canvas / 53.5 x 42.5cm / © John Archibald (Top)

2. John ARCHIBALD / Structure #5 Deuchar (large study) 2014 / oil on canvas / 33 x 94cm / © John Archibald (Below)