Robert Whitson

Robert Whitson’s latest body of work and is a collection of landscape paintings using the medium of oil on linen. Whitson has refined a technique reminiscent of pointillism stemming from the Impressionists of the 19^thCentury, where layered paint and therefore different colours are applied using dots to create abstract landscape imagery with figurative and narrative dimensions. The choice of palette and pointillist gestures extend on the typically calming pointillism landscapes of the Impressionists and invite the viewer to imagine and see what lies below the surface of dominant Australian mythic landscapes. The paintings offer narratives based on Whitson’s memories and knowledge of western Victoria, central western New South Wales, and western Tasmania. Many of these stories consider what lies below the surface of the often-dominant settler colonial imaginary.