Solo Exhibibtion
9th December 2015 - February 2016
Unnatural History : The Tower Hill Project commemorates 160 years since Eugene von Guerard painted Tower Hill (1855), held in Warrnambool Art Gallery’s permanent collection. The exhibition highlights the environmental impacts colonial settlement has had on this landscape since von Guerard’s time. It also reveals the significance of von Guerard’s painting, among others, in determining the re-vegetation programme, undertaken at Tower Hill State Game Reserve, by the local community in earnest from the 1960’s.
Hobie Porter’s practice is highly observational, and often overlaps Eugene von Guerard’s aesthetic motivations. His panoramic landscapes are overlaid with the minutiae that he discovers while exploring these sites. He pursues meaningful connections between the microcosm and the macrocosm. For this project, he has worked with feathers, leaves, flowers, botanical specimens, ceramic shards and beach shells (sometimes utilised to represent midden shells, which are protected objects under Aboriginal Heritage). The objects are often photographed, painted and replaced on site, so as not to disrupt their place in heritage or ecology. Each of these small elements contain an environmental dimension. They are painted in a Trompe L’oeil manner and interrupt his picturesque landscapes in ways that compel audiences to question why they are there.
Porter's depiction of Tower Hill celebrates its largely restored present state, contrasting dramatically with some (eerily beautiful) historical works that depict Tower Hill in its environmentally denuded state.
HOBIE PORTER FLOORTALK
Hobie Porter presents a detailed anaylsis of his investigation into the relationship between landscape and painting. Using Tower Hill as a subject, Porter has produced 10 highly technical oil paintings which explore the varied history of this unique site. Completely denuded by the 20th Century through farming and colonial activity, Tower Hill was revegetated by close examinatinon of the flora visible in Von Guerard's famous painting, currently housed in the Warrnambool Art Gallery.
Friday 22nd January 2016, 1PM