Added Jul 8, 2005
Austrian-born artist Andre van der Kerkhoff visited the mysterious mountainous outcrop, the Bungle Bungles, in north Western Australia in 1982 – a time when few Europeans knew the beehive-shaped rocks existed. The colourful and strange rock formations were shaped by wind, rain and seismic activity over 20 million years. Its beauty enchanted the artist, as did its tangible spiritual presence.
Nearly a quarter of a century later that long-remembered visit has been translated onto canvas in ‘Where dots become dreaming’, Andre’s first Canadian exhibition being shown at Galerie Luz, 372, Ste-Catherine Quest, suite 418.
In the harsh Australian landscape, it is perhaps fitting that with the unusual natural artistry of the Bungle Bungles, the Boab is interwoven, depicting life and resilience. The beehive shape of the Bungle Bungles also resembles an egg, signifying the new life that also evolves from the landscape.
The exhibition ‘Where dots become dreaming’ uses humour – rather than just the stunning Australian outback – to intrigue.
Each painted landscape is used as a metaphor to tell its own story. For example, replace the beehive shape in ‘Solitude’ with a human figure to express loneliness. But with Andre’s pieces, it is the eye of the beholder that the real story is told.
The 50-year-old self-taught artist worked as a graphic artist for over a decade before immigrating to Sydney in 1986. Once on Australian shores, he downed the paintbrush for nine years, instead cultivating bonsai. It was during this time that Andre soaked himself in the visual language of the indigenous people, those he feels are the only real avant-garde artists in Australia.
Andre’s technique balances the traditional Western concept of landscape art with the more physically precise yet spiritually expressionistic style of the indigenous artist. Within Andre’s dotted paintings you will find texture, warmth and a blurring – of both of the physical line and the seemingly impenetrable one between European and aboriginal painting.
Indeed, Andre’s work requires the international art world to rethink the boundary between indigenous and European styles.
Andre has worked as a fine artist in Brisbane for the past 10 years, using the city as a base to roam the unchartered lands of the Outback, which remains his source of inspiration and memories for later interpretation onto canvas.
Sarah McDonald
Montreal Gazette