What We Make of It Amanda van Gils
28 Sept - 11 Oct 2026
What We Make of It These paintings begin with the thought that making something is a curious act. An idea, instinct, image or possibility can exist without weight or form. Then a series of decisions begins. A colour is chosen. A mark is made. Something is kept, changed, covered or removed. Through that accumulation, something intangible becomes physically present. I find that transformation quietly remarkable, but I am interested in it beyond painting. Much of a life is made in a similar way. Thought by thought, decision by decision, reaction by reaction, we shape something from what we have been given and what has already happened. Experiences, beliefs, memories and earlier versions of ourselves accumulate. Some things recede, others return, and what has come before continues to influence what we make next. The paintings behave in much the same way. Watercolour gathers in layers. Marks are made, obscured and revisited. Fragments of handwritten text enter the surface, sometimes remaining visible and sometimes almost disappearing. Landscape gives the works a loose structure, but these are not records of particular places.
The text might begin with a thought, a remembered phrase, a dream or something encountered while I am working. Its origins may matter to me, but they do not determine what the painting will mean to someone else. This work grows from The Shape of What’s True, which considered how beliefs and experiences shape what we understand to be real. Here, the question becomes more active: Given everything that has accumulated, what do we make now? Making is not always a matter of giving form to something already understood. Sometimes meaning emerges through the making itself. There is something quietly hopeful in that. We cannot control everything that happens to us, and what we make will not necessarily be perfect or resolved. But we continue to shape, interpret, respond and create from what is already here. Once a painting exists, someone else encounters it through their own memories, beliefs and experiences. Creation continues. The making is mine. What they make of it is theirs. Amanda van Gils August 2026 Front image: A big realisation, 2026 (detail) Photography: Carl Warner
A big realisation, 2026
Watercolour and graphite pencil on linen 122 x 152 cm, $5,700
A spark carried through, 2026
Watercolour and graphite pencil on linen 87 x 107 cm, $4,200
Imagining, 2026
Watercolour and graphite pencil on linen Framed 39 x 44 cm, $1,500
Not an imposter after all, 2026
Watercolour and graphite pencil on linen Framed 29 x 44 cm, $1,400
After all is said and done it is what we make of it, 2026 Watercolour and graphite pencil on linen 137 x 168 cm, $6,600
Promise, 2026
Watercolour, and graphite on linen 82 x 107 cm, $4,000
Perfectly, imperfect, completely incomplete, 2025 Watercolour, and graphite on linen 82 x 107 cm, $4,000
Before You Knew Me, 2025
Watercolour, acrylic, watercolour pencil and graphite on canvas 61 x 77 cm, $2,800
Quiet voices, 2025
Watercolour on linen
Framed 33 x 43 cm, $1,400
I wish I could remember, 2022
Watercolour acrylic posca pens and graphite on linen Framed 28 x 43 cm, $1,400
Unrecognisable, 2026
Watercolour, acrylic, watercolour pencil and graphite on canvas 61 x 82 cm, $2,900
Without end, 2026
Watercolour and graphite pencil on linen 122 x 152 cm, $5,700
Lit up by a thousand small yeses, 2026 Watercolour, and graphite on linen 82 x 107 cm, $4,000
Unfolding still, 2026
Watercolour, acrylic, watercolour pencil and graphite on canvas 61 x 82 cm, $2,900
All I ever wanted, 2026
Watercolour and graphite pencil on linen 82 x 82 cm, $3,500
Momentarily Aligned, 2023
Watercolour, ink and acrylic on linen Framed 33 x 43 cm, $1,400
No straight lines, 2026
Watercolour, acrylic, watercolour pencil and graphite on canvas 61 x 77 cm, $2,800
As if by magic.., 2023
Watercolour, acrylic and pencil on board Framed 28 x 43 cm, $1,400
A change is in the air, 2026
Watercolour, and graphite on linen 82 x 107 cm, $4,000
Discovery, 2023
Watercolour, graphite and acrylic on canvas 81 x 107 cm, $4,000
Possibilities of daybreak, 2026
Watercolour, and graphite on linen 82 x 107 cm, $4,000
ArtSpace @ Jan Manton Gallery 54 Vernon Terrace, Teneriffe QLD 4005 info@janmantonart.com 0419 657 768 Photography: Carl Warner