Layering the land: Wayne Eager’s ‘Bitumen & Dirt’
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There is a particular brilliance to the ruddy soils of Central Australia under the glare of the midday sun. Incised by the sticky tar of arterial roads that snake through scrubby bush linking north and south, east and west, the desert landscapes of the interior radiate with intensity. It is this country that is the focus of Wayne Eager’s retrospective exhibition ‘Bitumen & Dirt’, curated by Kellie Joswig and recently seen at the Charles Darwin University Art Gallery in Darwin (the show travels to the Araluen Arts Centre, Alice Springs, in March). Bringing together 78 works, including richly hued canvases, prints and works on paper, the exhibition provides visitors with a sense of immersion in the land that has captivated Eager for over 30 years.
Eager began his artistic journey in Melbourne as a founding member of Roar Studios in Fitzroy. He first came to the Territory on a road trip in 1990 with fellow Roar artist David Larwill, then returned in 1992 to make the Territory his home. ‘Bitumen & Dirt’ charts Eager’s evolving response to the desert landscapes and escarpments of Kakadu over the years and the shift to exclusively abstract compositions. While Eager has a longstanding interest in abstract expressionism, what is interesting to consider are his first responses to the landscape at Kakadu. These gouaches stand out in the exhibition among canvases that play solely with line, shape and pattern. The early landscapes also demonstrate his preoccupation with mark-making, however the principles of the western tradition scaffold the composition. A horizon line separates earth from sky, and many of the paintings still incorporate recognisable features such as trees and mountain ranges. This speaks to the pull of the landscape tradition, which Eager completely abandoned in the late 1990s.
Eager’s deep dive into abstraction coincides with a wider move away from landscape painting by settler artists troubled by Australia’s colonial past. In the years following protests around the Bicentenary celebrations, traditional landscape painting no longer sustained legitimacy and was increasingly seen as implicated in the master narratives of settlement. Eager was at the heart of this shift, but his paintings are also informed by his direct experience with the land and Australia’s First Peoples.
Employed as a field worker for Papunya Tula Artists for five years, his close involvement with artists such as Ronnie Tjampitjinpa, Yala Yala Gibbs Tjungurrayi and Turkey Tolson Tjupurrula encouraged an alternative way of seeing and relating to country. Not only were their canvases structured around an aerial perspective, but their entire relationship to country, as one of belonging rather than possessing, encouraged artists like Eager to see the land differently. Eager’s later compositions focus exclusively on colour, rhythm and form. Increasingly, the paintings become highly layered constructions of idiosyncratic mark-making and calligraphic gestures imbued with personal symbolism. He laboriously layers his canvases, often taking months to complete as he builds the surface, obscuring what lies beneath. This also reflects a sensitivity towards the cultural history of the land and an awareness of the accumulated human history which permeates our experiences of place.
Above all, the exhibition highlights Eager’s skill as an exquisite colourist. Whether under the soft blush of first light or the deep hues of a setting sun, the many moods of the desert sands are sensually conveyed in this exhibition.
Wendy Garden, Darwin
Curated by Kellie Joswig, ‘Bitumen & Dirt – Wayne Eager: Thirty Years in the Territory’ was exhibited at Charles Darwin University Art Gallery, Darwin, from 22 October 2020 until 20 February 2021; it travels to Araluen Arts Centre, Alice Springs, from 19 March until 14 June 2021.
