Previous Artists on the Bayleaf walls
Justine Reilly
After harbouring a career spanning 20 years in graphic design, art direction & digital design, in 2020 Justine turned her focus full-time back to her primary love: fine art.
Working with acrylics, graphite, posca, charcoal, ink, pens, pastels, metallic pigment & poster markers - finished with embellishments of metallic leaf and tape - give her work a strong physical presence.
That presence is enhanced by her ability to look beyond the physical into the metaphysical, combined with her ability to manipulate softness and scale, creating a sense of lyrical unease; a ‘pretty’ threat. The resulting works illustrate Justine’s unique and unmistakeable signature. Her work is arresting as it is beautiful, primal and elemental, defying the “norm” of beauty by casting light upon the inner being in all aspects of self: healing, defiant and radiant.
All works are original and unique to this exhibition. Justine lives and works in her Byron Bay studio space.
www.justinereillyart.com.au // @justinereillyarte
ERIKA PETERSEN
WORDS FROM ERIKA
“I’m inspired by nature, and personal memories. I had a lot of time in my youthful rock collecting days in the Arizona desert to be in silence and use my imagination. Now, after having children, and watching them paint so fluidly without much contemplation or consciousness, influenced me to paint more freely. A lot of people think that kids will hold you back, but I think they are the key to making our lives and our imagination more vivid and openminded. While I still enjoy painting in a realistic technique, I love embracing creativity expressively, and with thick oil paint, spread on like butter. I use a lot of intuition and some spontaneous decisions. This process is enjoyable in a unique way, where my imagination helps me a lot. I paint a lot of western paintings, not because it’s in trend at the moment, but because I strongly feel it needs to be preserved. I’ve always enjoyed western art.”
Isaac Petersen
My work is a culmination of stories from my life, my home, and the places I have been. Since I can remember the ocean and rugged landscape of where I grew up in New Zealand have inspired me to paint landscapes and the sea. These paintings kick-started my career as an artist in my early twenties.
Since travel being a part of my adult life, my paintings expanded to capture the ‘story” of places abroad in the last few years. I began painting my wife, Erika, as a figure to add depth and connection to a beautiful surrounding, often water.
These paintings depict places and scenes which evoke positive feelings and radiate beauty. Serene utopias in which the viewer can become immersed.
Matthew Sansom
Mathew’s artwork expresses themes drawn from Plain Air and Still Life, responding to nature, form and light.
He often works in situ, exploring places of natural beauty and inspiration while attuning to an inner feeling of colour and expression.
Currently living in the Northern Rivers of NSW, his artwork can be viewed at his showroom ‘GALLEON’ in Bangalow.