Art Seen: January 24th
LAURA ELLIOT, OTAGO DAILY TIMES, 24 JANUARY 2019
“Terreno” Gretl Barzotto, Eade Gallery (Clyde)
The earth shimmers with gold dust, the hills suddenly glittering as if the light catches on a thousand hidden jewels. On an overcast day, Gretl Barzotto's Terreno, the centrepiece of her current exhibition, is a sweepingly moody, atmospheric landscape, layer upon layer of cool-toned hills that bleed into a misty grey horizon.
As you step closer, a tiny flicker of surface sparkle emerges, and when the sun fully hits the canvas, particles of gold pigment come alive and the whole composition takes on a new dimension.
Nearby, the scattering of glittering pigment in the darker-toned Terreno Oro conjures romantic imagery of sandy plains beneath a night sky. Every work in the collection appears completely altered at different times of the day, and it's brilliantly executed.
There is a kinetic energy to Barzotto's work. Her connection to the land, her desire to capture her feelings about her environment shines through in the sweeping brushstrokes that criss-cross the picture plane, the droplets of colour allowed to drip down the surface.
Barzotto sources paper and materials from Italy and Japan, and grinds Japanese ink sticks to make her pigments, and there is a deep sense of personal investment in every piece.
The collection includes large canvases and smaller paper works, the latter tending further towards abstraction, and although cool tones dominate, the effect is evocative rather than sombre, tugging at the senses.
Chance Encounters 2014
SHERIDAN KEITH, BLIKFANG ART AND ANTIQUES
Gretl Barzotto’s four abstract works (Michelia Nero Bianca, Michelia Bianca, Michelia Gialla and Michelia Verde Oro) pitch the natural tendency of paint to drip in opposition with the artist’s intentional brushwork. We watch her dynamic imposition upon the watery paint alongside the medium’s capacity to fall, left to its own devices. This encounter between gravity on the one hand (always telling us which way is down) and the multi-directional freedom of the brushstrokes, along with pencil and graphite contributions, celebrates the artist’s joy in escaping into her own world, where the hand and the eye travel together and for their own delight. The drips are allowed to escape too, they have their own pleasures to perform, slipping, like the raindrops we watched as children, down the window pane. These confident works have a pleasing equilibrium, and while they evoke the occasional bird form or other natural elements, overall they are more than happy to escape interpretation.
The Chance Encounters Exhibition looks at various points of view, differing techniques and stylistic approaches to art, discovering how juxtapositions enliven our art experience. Blikfang Art and Antiques offers a unique approach to the presentation of art works, with the hope of entrapping anyone willing to look.
“A painting will sing for anyone who will listen.” June Black