Kate Barry — The Island by Jessica McNicol

Kate Barry’s The Island is a world away from the large, colour forward oils that we’ve come to expect from the prolific artist. Characterised by rough layers of ink and a softer organic palette — these works are so unlike her usual expressionism that they immediately seem like studies, decidedly impressionist, a distinct step away from her abstract oeuvre.

And Impressions they are — Barry created these works over a two week residency on Bruny Island, after a chance meeting one day culminated in a generous offer for her to travel down and create work on the sloping side of Simpson’s Bay. Having never been to Tasmania, it was an act of providence Barry couldn’t refuse. Nine months later, she was staying in the renovated cottage, walking barefoot across the grass each morning to a detached studio on the privately owned property.

Barry’s work to date has always been a product of her life and environment — the deep shady green of suburban gardens, the pinks, sage and olive greens of blooming eucalypt scrub. She has produced work that consistently presents a biography of place and experience. In fact — her last three exhibitions have marked significant chapters in her life by translating her shifting frame of reference into abstract facets of her immediate surroundings. The work in The Island is indeed a world away from Barry’s usual work, just as Bruny Island’s rugged coastline is a world away from Brisbane’s leafy inner north.

Home to the world’s cleanest air, deep crystalline water, rocky coastlines, untamed scrub and old growth forest skirting mist-capped mountains, Tasmania’s dramatic ecology has always welcomed those seeking connection with the elements. Describing the work in The Island as ‘clear and undiluted’ Barry’s telltale energetic marks have stretched and diverged to become representational. In these landscapes, perhaps for the first time ever, her audience sees didactic sketches informed by observable perspectives of place, while the crisp white of untouched paper alludes to sharp, clear water and the smell of the sea.

Not wanting to travel with a suitcase full of oils, Barry’s usual media is also displaced by paper, smaller canvas and a limited palette of quick drying media. Fully embracing the opportunity to work differently, more hurriedly, her responses to the unbroken vista of Bruny Island complete the antithesis to her usual process. Through horizontal strokes, in the inky moodiness of the sky and bay, Barry reconstructs the ephemeral nature of wind, shore and sea. Island 1’s sienna trails dance like kelp in a lazy tide, while in Sweep — the red lichen growing along the granite of the east coast offsets the verdant green of thick vegetation. Free from the contained intimacy of the suburbs, The Island is as broad and free as Bruny’s famous coastline.

For Barry, this trip was an invigorating experience. While short, her two week residency created a welcome opportunity for change — a new way of working, a new environment to translate. Of the works collected here, only two were created in retrospect, after her return to Brisbane. Untamed Memory, and Big Bruny — while more familiar in dimension and media, retain a clear perspective of coastlines dissolving into a hazy bay. These works carry the legacy of Barry’s time on the island, and she confesses that we might be seeing this more didactic approach as a lasting impression in her visual language.

And ahead of a move to Sydney in September, the artist is spending a great deal of time meditating on change. It could be that this residency presented itself at just the right time, and the landscape — long the inspiration of Barry’s abstract practice — might become a newly defined subject — a change that celebrates the clarity found by those who are changing.

About the Curator

Laura Brinin

Laura Brinin is a curator of contemporary art, currently facilitating the vibrant program at Side Gallery in the heart of Red Hill, Brisbane. With an unwavering passion for nurturing connections with emerging and established creatives, Laura is dedicated to fostering artistic growth through avenues such as social media, branding, and identity development.

Laura has exhibited her own work both in Australia and overseas, as well as working as an independent freelance curator across Brisbane for over ten years. In her downtime, you can find her reading, travelling, or stalking dogs.

—   laura@sidegallery.com.au