Nerrida Parfitt’s oil paintings explore themes of solitude, impermanence, and the interplay between self and environment. In this exhibition titled 'Pause', she captures brooding landscapes and abandoned spaces, evoking a quiet tension through light, shadow, and profound stillness.
In my latest exhibition, "The Things We Collect," I invite you to explore the interplay between the literal and the allegorical. Initially, the concept is straightforward: the still life paintings that depict our tangible collections—objects that are familiar, safe, and pleasing to the eye. These works, though somewhat allegorical, are easily understood and offer a simple aesthetic pleasure.
This collection of work explores domestic life centred around the dining table that occupies an important place in the artist’s home. A table of interesting dimensions, long and thin, it was made originally to fit a difficult space. It has since moved house twice, and has fitted into each new space as if it were made to be right there.
As the cold season approaches, the table becomes the place to sit in the warmth of Winter sun - to eat, to read, to work, or to talk with friends.
Moving from New York back to Australia, I now live as I grew up, on the edge of a National Park. As a remote location, it is this natural environment that fills me with inspiration which I continue to learn about every day.
Walking the local tracks and being part of the community bush care group I’m in constant awe of our Australian bush and its fragility. The unique vision of our wildflowers and endangered birds are globally understated or recognised and it is something that drives me paint and share. It is that possibility of a new story that moves me.
I see that we are all small parts of a whole. We adapt and are forever evolving, I cannot help but be influenced by situations, people and places around me and this observation makes for an ongoing story.
Working primarily with soft pastels, Rivers applies scraping and blending techniques to swiftly establish composition and colour arrangement, later refining the works with intricate marks. His experimentation with pastels yields both loose yet finely detailed drawings and paintings.
His latest collection, “Under Sandstone Skies,” invites audiences to immerse themselves in his experience of residing under towering cliffs and open skies, observing the ever shifting interplay of light, colour and distinct weather phenomena. From the glow of a solitary cloud illuminated by the morning sun to the dynamic shadows cast by drifting clouds, Rivers’ work shares his connection to these moments of transient beauty.
Ordinary Things is a celebration of the tenacity, joy, dedication, humour, and chaos that permeates my life as a working-from-home artist. It is an exploration of the endless balancing act of being a mother, wife and creator. The works blur the boundaries of domestic and artistic life, where household items or children’s toys playfully invade the composition as if they’re in the process of being tidied up. The exhibition also explores the bittersweet passing of childhood, highlighting the brevity of this period of innocence and playfulness, where the young child’s locus in the domestic sphere begins to expand and well-loved childhood toys are abandoned.
