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© 2012
Yvonne Mills-Stanley |
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| Yvonne
first began exhibiting in Brisbane in 1981 and has maintained a consistently
strong painting practice and exhibition involvement. Since then Yvonne's
most distinctive paintings are the grass series begun in
2004. These are superbly crafted oil paintings, loaded with strong,
simple metaphor. The
austerity and boldness of this subject matter is balanced by a delicate
depth and finish- enhanced, seemingly, with the very fragrance of
the Australian landscape. I am concerned with the colour, structure
and movement of grass, and the relationship between areas of where
grass has once been and where grass is now travelling to.
....these grass paintings are not the literal portrayal of grass but the spirit of grass - the rhythm and movement - as it is touched by wind and sun causing a shimmer on the surface of the earth... I endeavour to convey this vibration on to the surface of the canvas... Yvonne Mills-Stanley Essay
by Michael Eather from Yvonne's recent exhibition at
I remember when I first saw Yvonne’s work from her now infamous Grass Series in 2004, I immediately thought of it’s resonance with Indigenous art. I guess I’m tuned into that being somewhat of a dealer in this material, but we must not take these thoughts lightly. It’s not very often that you get this ‘resonance’. From that point on, there began an intriguing conversation, indeed often a dialogue with her art and others. This found Yvonne’s paintings being paired and compared with other Australian artists, often amidst cautious questions about the artists’ background, ethnicity, locale etc. So what is it that makes Yvonne’s paintings unique in this context? I think it’s the combination of several important elements.
I guess that’s also a strong and immediate resonance we have when looking at so much Indigenous art. More-often it will evoke a sense of place. It remains a mystery how this is achieved. Yvonne’s works accordingly, look very comfortable sitting nearby indigenous art. They don’t fight each other, they compliment and they inform one another. These are pretty rare commodities, far more easily to speak about than to physically achieve. Indeed for many these attributes remain political prizes or romantic notions. And there’s nothing wrong with romantic notions they are just so very hard to realize. Hence, meditating on Yvonne’s work therefore has a similar effect as one being transported into country, more so romantically, into a very nice, serene place. In earlier paintings the landscape has been dominant over any figurative themes, particularly images of water, coast and jetty scenes, but always a sense of wonderment about a place. The grass was sometimes but one detail, that later became a dominant and focused theme within itself. In
2005 I wrote Yvonne Mills-Stanley has for over 25 years been on
the periphery of the Brisbane contemporary art scene, whilst cobbling
together an impressive CV of local and regional Art Prizes. Is
the wind about to change? … So here in 2010 in this impressive survey exhibition we can now look back at a selection of Yvonne’s paintings before, during and after this moment when the wind did indeed change, and the artist delved so deeply and passionately back into her own imagery - appropriating herself- culminating in so many variations of the Grass series: Encounters, Travels, Kikuyu, Dreams of Grass and other poetic meditations that remain her most prominent phase in a long and illustrious career. Yvonne has spoken about her inner dialogues with paint and country, the movement of grass … the journey of life … However; it is really her paintings that speak for themselves. This remains the real business of painting. And so, many of Yvonne’s paintings simply but quietly announce themselves. They maintain a beautiful conversation not only between art and the artist, but with the viewer and the entrancing ‘country’ we all have in mind. Michael Eather For
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