Absence of fenceline 122 X 122cm Oil on linen framed Australian Landscape

Absence of fenceline 122 X 122cm Oil on linen framed Australian LandscapeI'm sure this presents as a curious title for a painting, but it refers to the journey the work has had in the making. Originally conceived as a view across pasture cut off by a fenceline, I decided I didn't like the finished work. It looked to manicured a state I don't really identify as typical of the Australian landscape. I liked some of the trees and so I retained those, but set to work to make it a forest. And I removed the fence!

Whilst the film was about the destruction of lives in Cambodia

And I removed the fence

I decided I didn't like the finished work

with half what’s felled

I took some cuttings before the autumn took hold and arranged them as best I could on my old battered orange work chest

but it never has

This work is from my series looking at deforestation

It was a study for a larger work of the same name and finalist in the 2025 Calleen Art Award at the Cowra Regional Art Gallery in NSW

The film The Killing Fields came out in 1984 when I was studying plant biology at Uni

After the studies

I liked some of the trees and so I retained those

that of the environment