Rodney Forbes 2017

Rodney Forbes THE SEA, THE SEA

21 February - 12 March 2017 Au s t r a l i a N Ga l l e r i e s MELBOURNE

The sailmaker and his wife 2016 oil on canvas 77 x 153 cm

Saint Brendan and Jasconius the whale 2017 oil on canvas 38 x 91.5 cm

Saint Brendan beset in an icefield 2016 oil on canvas 61 x 91 cm

Au S T R A l I A N GA l l E r I E S MELBOURNE

Invites you to the opening

Rodney Forbes THE SEA, THE SEA tuesday 21 February 2017 6pm to 8pm 35 Derby Street Collingwood VIC 3066 artist talk: 3pm saturday 4 March 2017 Current until Sunday 12 March 2017 Open 7 days 10am to 6pm T 03 9417 4303 melbourne@australiangalleries.com.au australiangalleries.com.au Member Art Galleries Association of Australia

Front: Brendan and the island of fair maidens and intoxicating liquors (detail) 2016 oil on canvas 51 x 92 cm Saint Brendan and the crystal pillar 2016 oil on canvas 92 x 62 cm

I often paint about the sea. My heritage is Scots/Irish and exploring this culture has led me to the remarkable stories of Saint Brendan the Navigator, a 5th century Irish Abbott who set sail across the Atlantic in a leather boat to find paradise and, legend has it, found America before Columbus. His voyages are full of signs and wonders - mermaids, monsters and magical islands. The most familiar image of Brendan is of him careening his boat on the back of a friendly whale so that he could caulk his hull.

The Ancient Irish were snake worshipers, hence the tale of St Patrick ejecting the serpents from Ireland. Some of Brendan’s deeds were appropriated from pre-Christian Irish heroes, who were warlike and impetuous. Brendan, too, was a flawed hero, quick to anger and impulsive – so his own hero was Saint Brigid (also derived from a pre-Christian Goddess), who was gentle, wise and temperate.

To me, the questing Brendan explains the British tendency to sail off into the unknown, seeking a ‘fair land’. Some lands he finds read uncannily like Australia, with their bright birds, giant sheep and lush fruiting trees. Of course, twelve centuries after Brendan, Britain began deporting its unruly Scots and Irish on marathon sea journeys, to this fair island where the locals revere snakes. Somehow, I doubt even Brendan’s imaginative chroniclers could have concocted kangaroos or platypus.

Rodney Forbes, December 2016

Left: The pier 2016 oil on canvas 51 x 102 cm Right: Arctic Tern over Williamstown Docks 2017 oil on canvas 76 x 76 cm