Neil Ernest Tomkins - The Crack Between Worlds
The Crack Between Worlds
by Neil Tomkins
This new collection of paintings began in Co. Cork Ireland on residency in a small, converted cottage older than any English architecture in Australia. During my time at the Josef and Ani Albers Foundation Residency I was able to explore space and connection while dramatically isolated from any major settlement. This separation allowed space to consider the starkly contrasting dry reds and ochres of Australia while surrounded by a saturated green landscape which presented unexpected similarities. Initially this foggy familiarity formed the bones of this collection of paintings. Many of the paintings were created in this little shack depicted in the works, The Looking Glass and The Studio.
This contemplation created a freedom and after spending time in Portugal post residency it became clear the series was more than a singular place and "The Crack Between Worlds" unfolded into landscapes that linger in memory and converged effortlessly on the same surface. Presented in mixed media unveiling a wholistic vision, I explore how place can fracture and overlap, how distance becomes texture, and how colour can hold the memory of light. This body of work shares an intimate insight into the creation of my paintings. For the first time I've displayed the photographic works that inspire the development of new paintings.
These works inhabit a threshold, the meeting point between terrains, experiences and states of perception. While boldly evident in the work Just a Passing, others sit in obscurity of space such as Dusk and Dawn. Hills dissolve into ocean horizons; European light filters through remembered rain translated through the lens of an Australian landscape. The paintings trace a shifting sense of direction, as if moving through the echo of one landscape to find another.
Continuing an ongoing dialogue with space and colour, "The Crack Between Worlds" is a rare insight into the development of my work: an interpersonal reflection as a response to movement, across geography, between inner and outer worlds and the spaces that open in between.