MEG BUCHANAN

MEG BUCHANAN

Night Prose II, 2002 etching, aquatint, box frame (unique state) 69 cm x 82 cm

ISBN: 978-0-9803534-0-2 Essay text: Peter Haynes 2007 Graphic Design: 2B.com.au Photography: David Paterson Fine art scans: Rob Little Digital Images

Figure 1

MEG BUCHANAN FIVE YEARS ON

This essay (and the exhibition which it accompanies) continues

The earliest work discussed, Night Prose II (Figure 1) is from

a journey through the art of Meg Buchanan most recently

late 2002. In a series of twelve “boxes” within a box frame,

expressed in the essay Imaginative Placements, published in

fragmented images of directional signs and arrows are enclosed.

2004. In a tightly considered selection, it examines the artist’s

The compressed and partial nature of each image and the

work from late 2002 to early 2007, with a concentration on the

compactness of each square, underscore the perception of

period from 2006 to the present. This period has been one of

movement limited and constrained. This in turn imbues this

reflection and consolidation for the artist, and one in which the

work with a tremendous dynamism and energy which conversely

landscape takes on new significance and provides Buchanan

intimates possibilities of impending movement.

with a rich vein for conceptual and aesthetic exploration.

The notion of direction is subverted by the insertion of a number

As ever in her art the works discussed are very much about

of different and outwardly combative directions simultaneously

experience and expression. And, as ever, these are constantly

at play. Because of the directional clashes, destination remains

subjected to the artist’s reassessment and reinterpretation.

academic. Viewers must deal with each of the possibilities

The complexity of the preceding is further enhanced by the

offered to arrive at their own destinations/conclusions.

complicity of the viewers’ role, an integral and essential

Buchanan is an astute user and exploiter of black. Here it is used

ingredient in any aesthetic dialogue.

not simply as a background or as an element of enclosure, but

For Buchanan works of art are individual entities whose value lies in the experiences they initiate in those who confront them.

The artist creates new fragments of reality from her experience, new revelations which, despite their ostensibly static presence, remain in a state of flux. They are, in a sense, always partial and incomplete, because their effect is a continuous one, changing as it does from viewer to viewer, and from occasion to occasion of viewing. Contingencies of time, place and personal

rather to absorb viewers into the work and to underscore its subtle permutations, so skilfully realised by the artist. Black here could also symbolise the landscape, present in this work only by its absence, but certainly alluded to by the signs. The latter were regular accompaniments to Buchanan’s many road trips from Canberra to Sydney and back when she was Head of the Printmaking Department at the National Art School in Sydney from 1998 to 2001.

circumstance are each relevant here. The highly evocative contexts held within each work of art and put there by the artist, establish that reactive position required by her for real viewer involvement.

MEG BUCHANAN I FIVE YEARS ON

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Striation I, 2004 synthetic polymer/canvas 122 x 183cm Collection: Canberra Museum and Gallery

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Figure 2

These trips offered a fecund source for the artist, and the

In one sense it is not really possible to ever depict nature.

landscape-in-motion as viewed by her resulted in a series of

It is boundless, frameless and indeterminate, not able to

works in which the assertion of the importance of space/place in

escape temporal and spatial changes. A work of art is, despite

the location of personal identity is clearly visualised. Striation I

being physically enclosed, able to act as the place where histories

(Figure 2) of 2004, clearly exemplifies this. It is an aesthetically

and memories of places intersect. The complex tensions of these

powerful and majestic work. Strong verticals and diagonals

relationships are at the core of Buchanan’s art, and are beautifully

dominate visually and structurally. Their blackness is activated

articulated in Striation I.

by lively, variously coloured marks, the eloquent traces of recollection of past and passed experience.

Songs of Landscape II, 2005 (Figure 3) is a cadenced depiction of the contrasts and elisions found in the combination of abstraction and

Behind the abstract solemnity of the black forms a tantalizingly

reality. Powerful black verticals and horizontals are overlaid onto

fugitive landscape of greys insinuates itself into the viewers’ gaze.

and into the background landscape. The black forms are solid and

The marks that dance across the black motifs are clearly present

densely toned, while the landscape, composed principally of blues

here. Their sparse lightness belies their role as a unifying device, a

and yellows, has these colours dispersed in ways which move the

scattered veil that invests Striation I with an actuality; a device that

eye rhythmically across the surface of the canvas.

places viewers experientially in the situation of the artist, a situation that refers viewers directly to the lived experience of the artist.

The title derives from music created by Canberra-based composer Leeanne Bear, inspired by the Murray River. The composition is

These marks (or traces) are an affirmative presence; a reminder

actually cited in the painting, and in doing this Buchanan not

that the experience of landscape is composed as much of what we

only pays homage to another artist but also alludes to the (often)

see (perceive) as it is of what lies in our heads (conceive). Buchanan

symbiotic relationship of nature, music and painting (landscape).

is a visual artist and it is the visual that constitutes the bases of her expression. She is though fully aware of the philosophical basis of any intellectual expression; and thus, as her works are aesthetic objects, they are also texts. The innate tension between subject/source and object is never avoided. Indeed, the relationship between depicted and depictor/form of depicting is very much averred in her art.

This is an important painting in the artist’s oeuvre in its looking back to the Striation series and forward to the more recent landscapes. The bold assertiveness of the former is not denied.

Nor do the lyrical patterns of the land play a lesser role. The combination of intellectual geometries and natural topographies results in an arresting and embracing work in which the Apollonian and Dionysian inform each other.

MEG BUCHANAN I FIVE YEARS ON

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Songs of landscape II, 2005 synthetic polymer/canvas 122 x 183cm

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Figure 3

Laminar X (Figure 4) made in 2005, continues a series begun

The use of charcoal might infer notions of the sketch but there is

in 2004. It is exemplary of the series in the manner in which

nothing at all of the preliminary about this work. Buchanan’s use

Buchanan effortlessly brings together the general and the

and control of black is consummate. What I wrote in 2004 still

particular. Detailed part-views of a place are offset against

holds: Her use of black brings the viewer into the world of the

abstracted aspects or objects that could also be part of that

artist through an immediate and necessarily absorbing process

same place. The artist’s signature marks once again play an

which is simultaneously subjective...and objective... (Her)...

important role and, in their neutrality (and continued and

command of the full aesthetic and philosophical implications of...

repeated use throughout her work) suggest and acknowledge

(black)...continues to inform her practice.

the contingency and particularity of natural things and places.

The artist’s ability to coerce viewers into active engagement with this work points to a controlled understanding of her artistic vocabulary, aesthetically, conceptually and philosophically.

Buchanan’s black is tonal, working through rich, velvet blacks to white-greys. The dialogue between abstraction and realism is openly expressed. The resultant aesthetic tension is insinuatingly attractive. The conceptual thesis as pictorialised by

In 2006 Buchanan was awarded an Artist-in-Residency at Hill

the artist equally so. The artist is here visualising her attempts

End, near Bathurst in the central west of New South Wales.

to make sense of a landscape while she is standing in front of

Beginning in the late 1940s the area was made famous for

that landscape. The real readily asserts itself whilst the intrusion

painters by such luminaries as Russell Drysdale, Donald Friend,

of the abstract is a slower process. The apprehensive and

Jeffrey Smart and Margaret Olley, and later by John Olsen, Brett

comprehensive processes undergone by the artist are passed on

Whiteley, John Firth-Smith and others. The residency gave her

to intellectually and aesthetically speculative viewers. The active

the opportunity to work for a concentrated period in a different

landscapes of Buchanan’s earlier work remain a constant for her.

(but related) environment to her own, and to reconsider her

In the present work, the motif, viewing the motif, confronting

relationship, and the relationship of her art, to the landscape.

Laminar X, 2005 the motif, conceptually analysing the motif and choosing the

Amongst her earliest responses was a group of charcoal drawings based on the ruined site of the (former) township of Tambararoora some 5 kilometres north of Hill End. Perhaps

synthetic polymer/canvas means aesthetically present 92to x 92cm

Figure 4

that motif in a language that is

stylistically your own, make Tambaroora I a vital and engaging partner with viewers.

even more than Songs of Landscape I, these drawings exemplify

A series of works on paper from 2006 - the Turondale series

the transition from the work of c.2003 to 2005 to the splendid

(Figures 6 - 9) - sees the artist exploiting her explorations

landscapes of 2006 to 2007. Tambaroora Diggings I is a small

of a single and singular locale (i.e. the country around Hill

(28.5 x 38.0cm) charcoal drawing. Its composition is simple -

End). In these, the landscape and the detritus left by human

3 horizontal planes representing fore-, mid -, and background,

occupation are intertwined to create captivating images. Hill

are contrasted with two groups of verticals, the latter dividing

End and its environs were integral to the mid-19th century

the space and delineating the almost open-ended spatial

discovery of gold in Australia. The area is full of ruins, relics and

configurations favoured by the artist.

physical reminders of times and events long past. These ruins, etcetera, are not only reminders of those days but have become palimpsests on the landscape, like handprints in prehistoric MEG BUCHANAN I FIVE YEARS ON

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caves. They are however, not only on the landscape, but also of it. They provide the basic data that map man’s interventions into nature; they are physical interventions between the past and the present. As well as being the results of actions, they are the result of attitudes; evidence of the social constructions of which they were a part, and enduring links between the physical environment and human society. They are living archaeology, providing for the artist (and hence vicariously for viewers) an ongoing nexus between land-landscape-object-man-nature.

For Buchanan the landscape as viewed is clearly a product of human Tambaroora diggings I, 2006 charcoal/paper 28.5 x 38cm

Figure 5

activity. While the landscape remains raw material waiting to be processed by the artist, it is also like a map in that it is a social construct (as much as a natural one); a descriptor not only of the area it seeks to portray but also of the system that desires this product. Maps are as much social signifiers as they are descriptors of topographical boundaries. In the Turondale series the preceding becomes manifest.

Turondale IX (Figure 7) reveals the artist’s changing palette. Earth colours predominate - browns, ochres, greys. A single, irregularly semicircular shape dominates the foreground and indeed is the dominating pictorial element of the entire work. The reading of the shape offers

Turondale VI, 2006 pastel/earth pigment/paper 38 x 56.5cm

Figure 6

a range of possibilities. Its multivalent ambiguities are positively celebrated, with Buchanan leaving the filtering of the information presented up to the individual viewer. It is sufficient to state that there are clear references to a number of landscape interpretations ranging from the indigenous to contemporary Australian visions.

Interpretation depends of course on the values and attitudes of individual viewer and Buchanan is fully aware that her art is an expression of the external world mediated through the internal and subjective experience of the artist. Her necessarily restrictive gaze creates her unique visual language.

The semi-circle sits against what appears to be a cloud-filled sky. The

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Turondale IX, 2006 pastel/earth pigment/paper 38 x 56.5cm

Figure 7

stasis of the semi-circle is a challenging visual ploy to the kinesis of the

Turondale XIV, 2006 pastel/earth pigment/paper 38 x 112cm (diptych)

Figure 8

Turondale XVI, 2006 pastel/earth pigment/paper 38 x 112cm (diptych)

Figure 9

MEG BUCHANAN I FIVE YEARS ON

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Figure 10

Hill End 20, 2006 pastel/earth pigment/paper 76 x 203cm (diptych)

Hill End 14, 2006 pastel/earth pigment/paper 38 x 56.5cm

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Figure 11 Hill End 18, 2006 pastel/earth pigment/paper 56.5 x 76cm

Figure 12

horizontally layered sky. Colour and surface texture are played

In the Hill End series, 2006-2007 (Figures 10 - 12) the artist

off against one another in this clever visual dramatisation of

again elects for a limited palette, here of blue/grey and orange/

distance and difference. Whilst the semi-circle offers itself as a

brown, accompanied by a range of tonal variations. The

natural form, the background is evidence of a landscape widely

essential characteristics of the subject-matter (the landscape)

affected by the indirect as well as the direct impacts of human

are presented almost as abstract patterns, patterns which clearly

activity. Buchanan plays with perception in

refer to the landscape in the disposition of the horizontals and

an engaging way.

verticals which constitute them.

Photographing her environment was an important part of her

Buchanan capitalises on the motif of the deteriorated and

stay at Hill End. Her studio outside Canberra holds the results of

scarred surfaces of the corrugated iron fragments referred to

this. Amongst the many images are a large number which depict

previously. These fragments become the landscape in both a

discarded corrugated iron fragments from ruined buildings,

metaphorical and real sense. The jagged edges, patches of rust,

fences and the like, which ubiquitously populate Australia’s

etcetera are codes for memories of the land, of place. The artist

rural environment in an almost iconic way. For the artist this

skilfully manoeuvres the marks of extreme deterioration so that

singularly intrusive reminder of man’s impact on nature is

they can be read as traces of a specific landscape or references

simultaneously exemplary of the rigidity yet impermanence of

to more generalised aspects of the landscape. One’s reading of

the landscape. The innate possibilities for multiple readings

the landscape is contingent on one’s own experience, but by

makes these fragments the ideal signifiers for Buchanan’s

making the (detailed) part stand for the whole Buchanan

understanding of her vision of landscape and for that to be

allows for a range of simultaneously valid interpretations

transferred to viewers.

to come into play.

The intimacy of Turondale IX is extended to the panoramic

The works in this series are also characterised by a simplicity

in Turondale XVI (Figure 9). This is a majestic image with its

and directness of composition modulated by the networks

allusions to endless horizons and deep perspectival space

of lines and marks which place each in a continuum of subtly

populated by the grandeur of the sun-dried pastures and

manipulated chronological and spatial scales. These are some

quietly contemplative presence of the red hill. Behind the

of the artist’s most fine-tuned and resolved works. The balance

latter, the transformation of the normally terrestrially-based

between the microcosm and the macrocosm offers a number

rusted material to the celestial sphere, further underscores

of pathways for viewers, each predicated on the starting-point

the symbolic archaeology of Buchanan’s landscapes.

given by the artist. Buchanan does not rely on preconceived notions of landscape or landscape as imaged. Rather she gives her landscape a sense of identity based on her experiences and memories of experiences and allows viewers to utilise their memories to construct their landscapes. Her approach is multi-

MEG BUCHANAN I FIVE YEARS ON

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Hargraves 3, 2007 synthetic polymer/canvas 122 x 457cm

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Figure 13

MEG BUCHANAN I FIVE YEARS ON

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Hargraves 1, 2007 synthetic polymer/canvas 152 x 213cm

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Figure 14

layered and complex, but her images seductively simple

Hargraves 2 is another work in which compositional simplicity

and embracing.

and pictorial forthrightness are combined to create an image

The most recent works, Hargraves I, Hargraves 2 and Hargraves 3 (Figures 13 - 15) are from 2007. Hargraves 1 is an extraordinary and powerful image. The scene presented is bleak and empty - a landscape destroyed but nevertheless a landscape replete with memories, and promise of the change that is inevitable in all landscape.

of powerful beauty. The main motif (the familiarly ambiguous corrugated iron landscape) occupies all of the foreground and half of the total pictorial space. It is pushed to the front of the picture plane and actively inserts itself into the viewers’ space.

It is defiant in its commanding presence, and majestic in its slow lateral dance across the picture’s surface. Spatial ambiguities are rife and the artist plays with our perceptions and ways of

Buchanan uses spare means - essentially 3 horizontal areas

seeing, to throw into relief the issues which have concerned her

interjected with several stark black verticals (tree trunks).

in her expeditions into the landscape discussed above.

These aid in the delineation of space and also conceptually act as mute sentinels to the events that transformed, and will transform the landscape of which they are a part. The notion of continuum alluded to above imbues this work with a visceral momentum, an impetus of ongoing movement that gives palpable expression to the cycles of nature.

Hargraves 3 is a physically large work (122.0 x 457.0cm) and holds within it a correspondingly large conceptual and aesthetic grandeur. The landscape here is vast and seemingly unending.

It is visually rich and intellectually interesting. It is a varied and active canvas in which the artist’s controlling vision is firmly maintained. Contrasts in texture, gesture, colour, tone and form

The desolation so handsomely configured by the artist,

abound and imbue this work with an intensity that is at once

is not concerned with pessimism about our world. It presents

aesthetically captivating and thematically interrogative.

a status quo which although perhaps initially unpalatable holds optimistic promise and allows viewers the opportunity to place themselves in an environment with the same creative and imaginative fervour as that of the artist.

MEG BUCHANAN I FIVE YEARS ON

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Hargraves 2, 2007 synthetic polymer/canvas 152 x 213cm

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Figure 15

Again, through the simplest of means Buchanan can extract the highest degree of expressive content to effectively convey her message(s) in ways that truly are beautiful and fresh.

The works discussed in this essay show an artist whose ability is unquestioned; an artist who holds the power to create new visions from our landscape in a language that is exciting and invigorating and one that applauds the continuing redemptive possibilities in our contemporary world.

Peter Haynes Director ACT Museums and Galleries March 2007

MEG BUCHANAN I FIVE YEARS ON

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MEG BUCHANAN Biography

EDUCATION:

SELECTED GROUP EXHIBITIONS

1998

2007 How I entered there I cannot say: Collaborative Works from the ANU Edition and Artist Book Studio, Keith Murdock Gallery, State Library of Victoria, Melbourne, Vic.

MA., Visual Arts, Monash University, Victoria.

1980-81 Studied etching at Atelier 17 with Stanley William Hayter, Paris, France, and Krishna Reddy, New York University, New York, USA. 1968-71 Diploma of Art, (Painting Major), Newcastle School of Art, Newcastle, NSW.

PROFESSIONAL EXPERIENCE: 2002-07 Visiting Fellow, Australian National University, National Institute of the Arts, Canberra School of Art, Canberra, ACT. 2001- Full-time art practice

2006

festivité 2006, selected gallery artists, Catherine Asquith Gallery,

The Studio One Print Collection, Nara City Museum of Art, Nara, Japan.

Melbourne, Vic.

Wentworth Field Studies, 2005, Foyer Gallery, Australian National University, School of Art, Environmental Studio, Canberra, ACT

Melbourne Art Fair 2006, Royal Exhibition Building, Melbourne, Vic.

ow I entered there I cannot say: Collaborative Works from the ANU H Edition and Artist Book Studio, Bunbury Regional Art Gallery, Bunbury, WA.

1998-01 Head of Department, Printmaking, National Art School, Sydney, NSW. 1992-98 Senior Lecturer; Head Foundation Studies, Australian National University, Canberra School of Art, Canberra, ACT. Visiting Artist, Chiang Mai University, Chiang Mai, Thailand.

All In One Go III, Wagga Wagga Art Gallery, Wagga Wagga, NSW

ow I entered there I cannot say: Collaborative works from the ANU H Edition and Artist Book Studio, Bathurst Regional Art Gallery, Bathurst, NSW

2005

et River Dry Lake, Australian National University, School of Art, W Environmental Studio, Wentworth, NSW

ow I entered there I cannot truly say. Collaborative works from the H ANU Edition and Artist Book Studio, Artspace, Mackay, Qld.

2005 Mosman Art Prize, Mosman Art Gallery, Sydney, NSW.

Visiting Artist, La Salle Institute of the Arts SIA, Singapore.

Visiting Artist, Khon Kaen University, Khon Kaen, Thailand.

1985-86 Director, Studio One Incorporated, Canberra, ACT. 1983-84 Co-Founder/Co-Director, Studio One, Canberra, ACT.

SELECTED SOLO EXHIBITIONS: 2007 Meg Buchanan: Five Years On, curated by Peter Haynes, Canberra Museum and Gallery, Canberra, ACT.

2004

Vernacular Landscape, Beaver Galleries, Canberra, ACT.

2001

Drawings and Prints, Beaver Galleries, Canberra, ACT.

1996

Prints and Drawings, Regional Gallery, Bathurst, NSW.

One Wonders, Lismore Regional Art Gallery, Lismore, NSW. Works on Paper, Beaver Galleries, Canberra, ACT.

2005 Cowra Festival Art Awards, Cowra Art Gallery, Cowra, NSW.

2004

Recent Acquisitions, Australian National University, Canberra, ACT.

Drawcard: The National Art School Postcard Show, Sydney, NSW.

10 years of Artists in Residence, Khon Kaen University, Thailand.

Please Be Seated, Wagga Wagga Art Gallery, Wagga Wagga, NSW.

Canberra Art Prize, Canberra. ACT.

Postcards 2004, Wagga Wagga Art Gallery, Wagga Wagga, NSW.

1992

Conversions, No. 7, Canberra Contemporary Art Space, ACT.

1991

Drawings, Stuart Gerstman Galleries, Melbourne, Vic.

1989

Monotypes, Stuart Gerstman Galleries, Melbourne, Vic.

Salon des Refusés 2004 Archibald, S. H. Ervin Gallery, Sydney, NSW.

1984

Works on Paper, (drawings and prints), Arts Council Gallery, ACT.

2004 Cowra Festival Art Award, Cowra Art Gallery, Cowra, NSW.

1978

Installation, Goethe Institute, Canberra, ACT.

2003 The Hutchins Art Prize 2003, The Long Gallery, Salamanca Place, Hobart, Tas.

The CMAG Collection, Studio One Prints, Canberra Museum and Gallery, Canberra, ACT.

Land$cape: Gold and Water, Orange Regional Art Gallery, Orange, NSW.

Distant Noises, Print Council of Australia, RMIT Faculty Gallery, Melbourne, Vic.

16.

2003 Cowra Festival Art Award, Cowra Regional Gallery, Cowra, NSW.

2002

Paper 2, Stella Downer Fine Art, Sydney, NSW.

Land$cape: Gold and Water, ANU, National Institute of the Arts, Canberra School of Art Foyer Gallery, Canberra, ACT.

REPRESENTED: Australian National University, Canberra, ACT Ballarat Fine Art Gallery, Ballarat, Vic.

Factor of 10, ANU, National Institute of the Arts, Canberra School of Art Gallery, Canberra, ACT.

Bathurst Regional Art Gallery, Bathurst, NSW.

Fleming Muntz Albury Art Prize, Albury Regional Art Gallery, Albury, NSW.

Canberra Museum and Gallery, Canberra, ACT.

The 32nd Alice Prize 2002, Alice Springs, NT. The Hutchins Art Prize 2002, The Long Gallery, Salamanca Place, Hobart, Tas. Edition and artist book survey, Canberra Museum and Gallery, Canberra, ACT. 2001

Reflecting Canberra, Canberra Museum and Gallery, Canberra, ACT.

Bendigo Art Gallery, Bendigo, Vic. Canson Australia Pty Ltd, Sydney, NSW. Capital Arts Patrons Collection, Canberra, ACT. Chiang Mai University, Chiang Mai, Thailand Cowra Regional Art Gallery, Cowra, NSW. City of Box Hill Municipal Collection, Melbourne, Vic. Fasham Collection, Melbourne, Vic. Institute of the Arts, Canberra School of Art, Canberra, ACT. Kirwan State High School, WA.

AWARDS/COMMISSIONS:

Lake Macquarie City Art Gallery, Booragul, NSW.

2006 Hill End Artist in Residence, Hill End, NSW.

Mildura Art Centre, Mildura, NSW.

2005 Winner, Calleen Acquisition Award, 2005 Cowra Festival Art Awards, Cowra Art Gallery, Cowra, NSW.

National Gallery of Australia (Studio One Collection), Canberra, ACT.

2004 Finalist, Canberra Art Award, Canberra, ACT. Canberra Critics Circle Award, 2004, for Visual Arts, ACT. 2003 “Merit Award,” Calleen Acquisition Award, 2003 Cowra Festival Art Awards, Cowra Art Gallery, Cowra, NSW. 2002 Finalist, “Judges Selection”, Hutchins Art Prize, Hobart Tas.

New York University, New York, USA. Print Council of Australia, Melbourne, Vic. Queen Victoria Museum and Art Gallery, Launceston, Tas. The Steven Print Gallery, Vic. University of South Australia, Adelaide, SA.

“Highly Commended”, Fleming Muntz Albury Art Prize, Albury, NSW. 1999 artsACT, Arts Development Funding Program, Grants under $15,000.

1998

Winner, Bathurst Art Purchase Prize, Bathurst Art Gallery, NSW.

1996

Capital Arts Patrons Fellowship, Canberra, ACT.

1995 PEP Grant, Australian National University, Canberra School of Art, Canberra, ACT. 1991 Print Council of Australia, 25th Anniversary Print Commission, Melbourne, Vic.

Meg Buchanan PO Box 72, Hall, ACT, 2618 Telephone: (02) 6230 2246 Email:megbuchanan@ozemail.com.au

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