Tim Maguire’s urbane works are often cinematic in scale and distinctive for their rich coloration. Stand up close and you see how his luminous paintings are produced with just three pure colours – yellow, magenta and cyan.
The exhibition consists of five new paintings, based on water lily pads and almond blossom imagery. The title The Floating World refers literally to the lily pads but also to Japanese woodcuts or ukiyo-e.
Ukiyo-e translates as ‘images from the floating world’, but is also a homonym for ‘the transitory nature of life’ - a core pre-occupation in Tim Maguire’s work since his early vanitas still-life works.
"The lily pads are suggestive of Monet - a long-time favourite, who was a collector of Japanese ukiyo-e. I've always thought his water lilies paintings go to the heart of the nature of painting - the receding perspectival planes of the lily pads convey depth, or the illusion of a third dimension - the vertical reflections of the hanging willow branches undercut that illusion and reinforce the essential flatness of the canvas. This tension between two and three dimensions, the innate flatness of painting and its propensity to create illusionistic space, is something I've always sought to exploit in my paintings. And the play between the object and its reflection, the confusions between real and the illusory, is central to how we see the world and try to make sense of it.
Tim Maguire 2017
Tim Maguire’s aesthetic affinity with Monet is evident in the water lily paintings. Their joyous imagery conveys a sophisticated grasp of colour along with a painterliness that reminds us that, whatever the image, the real subject of Tim Maguire’s work is painting itself.
Tim Maguire has exhibited extensively in Europe and Australia for more than two decades, including a 2008 major solo show at Ikon Gallery, UK. For many years he has worked collaboratively with the French master printer, Franck Bordas.
Press release courtesy Tolarno Galleries.
104 Exhibition Street, Level 4
Melbourne, 3000
Australia
www.tolarnogalleries.com
+61 3 9654 6000
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The gallery is temporarily closed until further notice.
Tuesday–Friday: 10am–5pm
Saturday: 1pm–5pm