Andrew Totman

Many of the deeply red multi-plate monotype[i] works incorporate organic forms that remind the viewer of hastily glimpsed, evanescent bones or muscle tissue encased in blood dyed veils of fugacious muslin scrim. The constant repetitious pumping beat of the Suzanne Vega song: ‘Blood Makes Noise’, echoes as foramen within bone, are displayed, paths are mapped for the eye, to travel up and down tendons. Ephemeral, heads of bones, and their smooth, intricate, and usefully organic, delicate openings are sketched out. The differing shades and tones in the best of the works taper down towards the base of the image like a plant or the origin of a flame. The enticing flame of the campfire is captured within these works. They hold an intrinsic human allure, one of nature, of growth. The work does not explicitly depict the body, but hints at it through the red of the Pindan desert[ii]. The work is the visual equivalent of rich, deep, flavored Coonawarra wine. The origins of these works are not only rooted in a depiction of the body, their rich red colour palate is linked in the Australian psyche to the Western Desert, and a nationalistic Australian landscape depiction. Sydney Nolan’s playful, repetitive, use of printmaking, experimental frottage, and monotype could be linked with these abstract works. The elder artists numerous bird, and floral depictions incorporate similar muted, complex tones in their backgrounds. Forms found in nature appearing and evolving through the unintentional painterly discovery intrinsic to the processes of monotype. Nolan’s imaged excursions within Australian landscape art through red earth, desert depictions, bone, and carcass, viscera and the harsh nature of our hot climate.