14 Gabrielle Courtenay

Looking at the Moon thinking of the Sea | 2016 | pencil, charcoal, contecrayon, pastel, timber on plywood | 129 x 128 x 5 cm

14 Gabrielle Courtenay

Sunshine Coast Art Prize 2016 – Finalist

[Image courtesy of the artist]

Gabrielle Courtenay | Looking at the Moon thinking of the Sea | 2016 | pencil, charcoal, contecrayon, pastel, timber on plywood | 129 x 128 x 5 cm

Artist Statement

I mix fantasy with reality, juxtaposing imagery with metaphors of collective and personal memory creating multi-layered visual narratives that explore themes of memory, myth, the feminine, culture, power and emotion.

In working on this emotive mythical vanitas, the drawing materials spontaneously merged into the grains of this recycled plywood panel to form the mountain-islands, sea-skies of this dream space. The title references the Hindu concept of the cyclical nature of the universe and everything in it. At the end of one cosmos, a large golden egg will appear with all life forms in it, as the world drowns it will flow safely on the waters of the boundless cosmic sea.