202 202 FAMOUS CONTEMPORARY ARTISTS

FAMOUS CONTEMPORARY ARTISTS

AMANDA VAN G IL SLives and works in Melbourne, Australia

w w w.amandavang i ls .com

JUDY N . B IRDLives and works in Los Altos Hills, CA, USA

w w w.judyb ird f inear t .com

With a love of texture and mixed media Judy is concentrating her creative

energy towards abstraction. Finding a balance of sculptural grace and

maintaining a fresh touch of spontaneity is becoming evident within this

internationally recognized artist’s personal approach to her artwork.

A rich experience for viewer and artist is noticed as she creates powerful

abstract paintings that entice you to wonder gently through her compositions

a peaceful journey with abstraction as the visual vehicle. Judy is earning her

M.F.A. in Abstract painting at the Art Academy in San Francisco.

ð SUNSET AT SKYLINE, 2005 MIXED MEDIA ON CANVAS 48X60 IN./ 122X152 CM.

Australian artist Amanda van Gils draws her work from her continued interest

in the landscape as a metaphor for the ongoing nature of human experience.

Her recent paintings represent an altered state of consciousness, located

somewhere between fi ction and reality.

The evolution of van Gils’ artistic concerns is evident in the artists’ progression

to the gradual depiction, rather than inference, of the fi gure in her works. In

earlier works the humanless landscapes captured seemed hauntingly empty,

however remnants of memories, people or occasions appeared to linger. In

these works van Gils, revealed her interest in the individual interpretation of

the external world and the relationship between people and place. Through

the absence of prescribed meaning, even the most desolate of locations

may hark personal memory or association. The gradual introduction of the

fi gure into her compositions further exposed her interest in the psychological

connection between people and place; the depiction of the road referred to

the everyday journeys of an individual, making apparent traces of human life

in even the most desolate of regions. Over time the fi gure has evolved into a

more signifi cant characteristic of her work. Increasingly apparent too is the

depiction of the atmospheric transition from night to day. In works such as

‘At the close of day’ (2004) fi gures traverse through the sky in surrealistic

fantasy. Capturing the moment where an individual is suspended between

dream and reality, the images refl ect a sense of disillusion. As hypnotic as they

are beautiful, the paintings are meticulously rendered and highly technically

achieved, profi ciently describing the artists’ intentions while also allowing

for individual interpretation. In more recent work, such as “The biggest jump,

ever!’ the work shifts into the realm of fun and play; while the brooding

romantic sensibility is still apparent this is often overridden by a pure sense of

fun. Recalling childhood, the images in van Gils’ more recent paintings hover

on the threshold of reality and imagination where anything is possible.

As with the earlier work, van Gils continues to depict fi gures engaged in

activities outside of their expected setting, causing the viewer to question

relatively ordinary occurrences. The fi gures occupy indistinct space and time,

and while the imagery is recognisably ‘real’ the fi gures are somehow dislocated

from reality as if interpreted through the prism of childish imagination.

Van Gils works within the longstanding tradition of Australian landscape

painting, it might be suggested that her work brings a new energy to the artistic

study of the Australian landscape and its association to its inhabitants.

PRIZE OF EXCELLENCE. REAL-TIME ONLINE GLOBAL ART ANNUAL 30.06.05 - 30.06.06 ARTOTEQUE.COM ( LONDON ) PRIZE OF EXCELLENCE. REAL-TIME ONLINE GLOBAL ART ANNUAL 30.06.05 - 30.06.06 ARTOTEQUE.COM ( LONDON )

AT THE CLOSE OF DAY, 2004 OIL ON LINEN 30X24 IN. /76X61CM. îSOMERSAULT, 2005 OIL ON LINEN 91⁄2X71⁄2 IN. / 24X19 CM. î

THE BIGGEST JUMP, EVER!, 2005 OIL ON LINEN 50X401⁄2 IN. /127X102 CM. îBELLY FLOP, 2005 OIL ON LINEN 91⁄2X71⁄2 IN. /24X19 CM. î

ð RECITAL, 2005 ACRYLIC ON CANVAS 16X20 IN. / 40X50 CM.