Guan Wei & Niu Dandan

Breathe 2  August – 11 August 2019

Gemelle Madigan is an Australian artist best known for her monochromatic paintings on glass, acrylic, canvas and paper. Madigan grew up in rural Australia and moved to Sydney where she studied at the Julian Ashton Art School and the NSW University of Fine Arts (COFA). Gemelle Madigan left COFA and began experimenting with different materials, eventually creating her own paint and technique for reverse painting on glass and acrylic.

Gemelle Madigan lived on Berowra Creek (Sydney) for many years and was especially fascinated and influenced by the ever-changing light and colour that was reflected in the dark, mirror-like surface of the green river. She experimented with silver leaf and mixed media before coming off the canvas and onto the glass. She reverse-painted what was under the surface of the water onto the glass and acrylic to re-create the luminous and reflective qualities of the water. This technique is highly intuitive as the work is impossible to be seen until completion. Gemelle Madigan has a passion for waterways, for the oceans and for the planet at large. Her works evoke a feeling of hope, beauty and mystery, drawing the viewer in close with the large blocks of luminous colour, contrasted with fine details of bleaching corals. Her work constantly explores themes of creation and destruction.

Gemelle Madigan currently lives and exhibits in Sydney, Australia. Her work has been sold in Australia, the US, Korea and Italy.

About this solo exhibition, inspired by the grandeur of Nature, Gemelle’s paintings reflect the silent, meditative essence of life and art. She is process-driven, painting the energy received both from Nature and the very act of painting itself. She draws and pours paint, moves and manipulates it and then rubs and scrubs layers off. She continues this until the painting has been reduced to its simplest form, just like how one meditates through breathing. To breathe, to still the mind is a necessity in living a peaceful and harmonious life. Gemelle Madiganfeels painting can heal the minds of people, just like nature does.