art

The Salt Lakes Project

Peter MacDonald began photographing Lake Eyre in the year 2000 in a cycle of drought.
In 2010, when the rains came, he recorded the miraculous explosion of life as the Salt Lakes basin filled.
In 2013 he flew over the Lakes at 10,000 feet. Through the open door of a light aircraft, Peter photographed perfectly delineated abstracts desert-scapes, formed where surfaces meet – the dry salt bed, brackish salt water, fresh rain flooding in from the creeks and the muddy edges of the dunes.
In 2014 and 2015 Peter continued his project, photographing nearby Lake Frome, at that time filled with pure rainwater. He recorded brilliant and liquid colours, an artist’s palette mixed from the elements of life.
This exhibition features Peter’s recent works, alive with extraordinary colours and fluid forms rarely seen.
Peter has lived in the Flinders Ranges for over 20 years. He is a pilot and a master photographer. Over the past 20 years Peter has explored areas of the far-north rarely seen by others.

Image

Herman van der MIJN

Herman van der MIJN
born Amsterdam 1684
died London 1741
Still life with medallion
1711, Antwerp, Flanders (now Belgium)
oil on canvas
Gift of Susan Cocks and Dr J.B. Robinson, Colin and Robyn Cowan, Emeritus Professor Anne Edwards AO, Gwinnett Family, Peter and Pamela McKee, Tom Pearce, John Phillips and David Urry through the Art Gallery of South Australia Foundation Collectors Club 2019
20197P128
Still life with medallion demonstrates the ongoing importance of the still life genre, a tradition which came to the fore in the seventeenth century, during what is now known as the Golden Age of Dutch Painting. Beyond merely representing beautifully arranged objects, Dutch still lifes are replete with important symbolism and are often associated with the profound concepts of life, death and rebirth. Each of the objects in this exotic concoction of red and white grapes, peaches, apricots, a gourd and chestnut, has its own symbolic meaning, but more generally this work can be interpreted as a vanitas, a sombre reminder of both the beauty and fragility of everyday life.