Award-winning painter Greg Baker’s latest exhibition, ‘Living in a Lightscape’ is inspired by his recent ‘seachange’ to Coogee from the Perth Hills. The exhibition, his 70th , has a strong local theme and the works portray his new awareness of tides, sunsets, big skies and local history.
The exhibition introduces new “beach sketches” by renowned sculptor Greg James, a long-time friend and associate of Greg Baker. The exhibitions opens on Monday 15 March at 6.30pm at the Coogee Beach Surf Life Saving Club and runs to 5pm Thursday 18 March.
2020 began with Greg conducting painting workshops, with plans of heading back to France in April where he spends several months each year painting commissions and conducting painting tours.
With everything changed by COVID-19 he began painting for an exhibition here in WA originally planned for November that year. Too much uncertainty meant the exhibition was rescheduled to March
2021, so he kept painting and spent more time exploring his seaside environment in Coogee and around the Swan River in Fremantle.
“Before moving to Coogee I didn’t know much about the history of the area. With COVID precluding my trip to France, it created time and space for me to absorb both the history
and the stories of the area as well as the landscape,” Greg said.
Greg also approached fellow artist, sculptor Greg James, to see if he would like to create some new works complementing his exhibition’s theme of ‘Living in a Lightscape’. Greg James had twice-exhibited in Greg’s gallery, Gooseberry Hill Studios, and both artists had shown their work together at the Australian Embassy in Berlin in 2006. Greg James is recognised as Fremantle`s foremost sculptor, everyone knows his sculptures of ‘Bella’, Bon Scott, The Fishermen on the Wharf, Pietro Porcelli in Kings Square and many public and private
installations.
Greg’s paintings have also been shown in exhibitions in France, London, Singapore and Hong Kong, as well as throughout Australia. His many commissions include works for corporate collections such as Shell, Woodside and Rio Tinto. Overseas commissions include the Sultanate of Oman and Oman Liquid Natural Gas.
His skills are diverse, and the range and breadth of his subject matter is extraordinary. He has mastered the spectrum of visual art mediums and is celebrated for his oils, pastels, acrylics and watercolours. Greg’s paintings are mostly figurative and he is much-acclaimed for his seascapes and landscapes. His calligraphic technique is and always has been his own and his intention is to capture the visual impression of the moment, particularly in terms of light, colour and movement.
From Greg’s paintings you can recognise two particular loves in his life. First, the coastal waters of Western Australia, particularly around Rottnest Island, that allow him to display a remarkable ability to paint the play of light on water; and second, his annual pilgrimages to Europe that provide him with the opportunity to capture its countryside, villages and cities, particularly Paris and Venice.
Greg Baker will exhibit 40 new works in the exhibition that are all available for purchase. They include several large works up to 2 metres in size. The exhibition will be opened by His Worship, Logan Howlett, Mayor of the City of the City of Cockburn.
‘Living in a Lightscape’ Exhibition
Opens: 6.30pm Monday 15 March 2021, general public welcome
Runs: 10 am to 5pm daily from Tuesday 16 March until Thursday 18 March (inclusive).
Venue: Coogee Beach Surf Life Saving Club, 20 Poore Avenue Coogee WA.
Website: gregbaker.com.au
Biography: https://www.gregbaker.com.au/about/
View exhibition images at https://www.gregbaker.com.au/