Ben Crawford – Glorious rich saturated colours create scenes that oscillate between reality and utopia. Expressions and emotions are held in the gestural figures, some caught in conversation, others alone and perhaps contemplative. The dexterous juxtaposition of brights and darks pulse off each other creating depth and movement. A set of techniques that combine to create alluring images of time past and time present.
Storytelling is at the heart of Crawford’s practice. Each piece in this series references the creek running through the Currumbin Valley in Queensland where Ben Crawford lives. These are vignettes of stories past and contemporary imaginings. Reflections are both literal and metaphorical.
Crawford sees the valley as a frontier of possibilities. Once a bird sanctuary, now the site of a hippy commune, a children’s playground, a health resort, a wedding venue, a park. Sanctuary references the barrier that might have once existed when there was a bird sanctuary in the valley, it leaves us wondering which side of the boundary we and the figure are on, are we in or out. On close inspection we can see birdlike figures peppered through the fencing, equally ambiguous.
Several scenes show children frozen as if waiting for something to happen. In Tethered to Gravity a figure stands alone, a little separated from the group. There is a sense of tension between the groups, is he turning his back on them or welcoming someone who is out of scene?
Explosions of foliage in Fearful Symmetry and Possibilities Frontier demonstrate Crawford’s wonderfully expressive handling of vegetation. In this work and Long Tan Apparitions are half-formed figures, suggestive of memories of people. Tantalising possibilities exist in each work.
Arcadian Dreamers has a Gaugin-esque use of colour and is the result of Crawford imagining what goes on inside the commune in the valley. Here Crawford has taken the opportunity to play with pattern and colour in the clothing, also seen in Did you get Healed? An equally fantastical imagining of baptism. There is a simplicity to these scenes.
If part of Gaugin’s legacy rests partly in his dramatic decision to reject the materialism of contemporary culture in favour of a more spiritual, unfettered lifestyle, it feels like Crawford is echoing these sentiments.
Crawford uses heightened colours to distort the scenes from reality. His paintings are less about real representation and more about evoking a feeling. This is what binds his work to that of Charlotte Edsell who shows alongside him in this exhibition.
Chartlotte Edsell - Edsell's work delves deeply into the process of image-making, where simplicity on the surface belies the complex journey that each painting undertakes. The process is not forced; instead, it unfolds through an organic investigation, where the artist paints and repaints, driven by a commitment to simplifying the visual language to evoke how memory functions in our mind's eye; an abstracted version of reality that resonates with oneself.
The interaction of ground and mark—both the act of painting and the interplay of form and space—is central to the practice. Colour and form are constantly explored, always inquisitive, as the artist searches for the delicate balance between beauty and aliveness. Whether through traditional methods or the expanded possibilities offered by digital manipulation of scale and imagery.
The paintings invite a poetic way of seeing and feeling, steering clear of intellectual analysis in favour of something more immediate, visceral. The images are constructed slowly, layer by layer, with hours spent in the studio questioning, looking, and relooking at what makes an image successful. This careful attention to the mark, to the aliveness of the paint as it’s laid down, imbues each work with a quiet energy—a sense that the image is alive and emerging, rather than predetermined.
The play of abstraction and memory is key, reducing a complex world into its simplest, most essential language. Historical references, like the use of specific colour palettes—such as blue and blue-green hues found in traditional Japanese prints—inform the artist’s work, while the marks and forms reflect a deeply personal language developed over time.
There is a constant dialogue with nature and the landscape, yet this is no simple portrayal of place. It’s a reflection of the layered experiences of being in nature—the beauty, the loss, the struggle, the desire to flee, and the preciousness of staying. The lines within the paintings serve as markers, guiding the way between tradition and the unknown, between the floating and the stable. There is a sense of getting lost in the forest, only to find a guide leading you back out—an exploration of history, the present moment, and the fleeting, transient nature of both.
At its core, this work is about the act of seeing, the act of making, and the long, evolving journey of taking an image to its final form. It reflects a commitment to process, to exploring and honouring what comes through, while inviting the viewer to experience it as it is—an evolving conversation between the painting, the artist, and the world around them. The result is an offering: a moment of stillness, simplicity, and feeling within a complex world.
