Jeremy Kirwan-Ward: You Can See It From Here
Fremantle Press
One of the qualities of art is to offer to grind a new lens and the opportunity to transform and change viewpoints, which can result in one recalibrating one’s outlook. With Australia’s unique rugged landscape, there are a myriad of a spectacular phenomena to be experienced, be it on the surface of the ocean, the bush or in sunburnt territory, specifically in the Western part.
Jeremy Kirwan-Ward is a master when it comes to depicting ever unfolding and reforming shapes and enhancing the experience by using reflective colours that help to illuminate nuances such as the change of winds or microscopic dots of light or the rhythm of the sea.
If I was to pinpoint what Kirwan-Ward channels his alchemy in, I’d describe it as the ability to highlight a separation of his art from the real world while shedding light on the underlying processes of its layered creation and and by that, juxtaposing shifts and continuous movement with stasis.
Mesmerising and intent on reassessing the art of looking as contrasts and counterbalances are amplified to then suggest that perception is in the eye of the individual beholder.
This beautiful tome comprises the five-decade long career of an Australian artist that due to being located in one of the most remote parts of the world, is not widely known.
With a depiction of over one hundred of Jeremy’s painting and framed by compelling essays, Kirwan-Ward’s oeuvre is contextualized in the canon of not only the local Western Australian, but also the national and international context.
