Artwork Title: Mornington

Mornington, 2013

William Mackinnon

It’s easy to see how so much time spent in beautiful, rural spaces has informed his landscapes. In the absence of other people, the artist evokes the notion that these uninhabited places are full of his own identity: exploring what it is like to be a human in this huge, new world. “My work really is the interaction between what I am thinking about and what I am physically looking at” he says. “I often title my works of landscape as self-portraits. They are psychological spaces as much as anything. Roads, dips, bridges and exits stand in for emotional states.” Even with his more ominous and sinister nightscapes, there is something light and optimistic about Mackinnon’s work. Desolate roads reveal a sense of longing, at once looking forward to a destination but with a fierce sense of nostalgia and a powerful sense of the Australian identity. Though the artist is alone, there is so much life and possibility in each scene. “Each piece is not a straight depiction of landscape but a collection of lots of things I have seen from film, television and travels and, of course, my imagination, amalgamated”, Mackinnon says. The artist likens his process to that of the Australian bowerbird, which collects small jewel-colored trinkets and pieces. Each work incorporates brightly colored elements from the Australian landscape with fragments of his imagination. [http://www.port-magazine.com/art-photography/the-bowerbird-william-mackinnon/]
Uploaded on Dec 4, 2017 by Suzan Hamer

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