Thursday, 10 April 2008 | Levent OZLER
Todd Hunter: This Perfect Day
Scott Livesey Galleries presents "This Perfect Day", the latest series of work from Todd Hunter. Painted at his studio in Pittwater on the NSW coast, the series is Hunter's response to the natural environment that surrounds him and the climactic extremes that occur there.
His luscious and atmospheric paintings involve the viewer in an experience of nature. Set on the water and surrounded by untamed bushland, Hunter's environs see the extremes of the current climactic conditions and it is these dramatic shifts in weather and light that are in evidence in these paintings. As Hunter says, the "interaction of flesh, landscape and light" have informed this series.
Whilst flesh and landscape provide a "subject" within the abstract, it is music that provides the backdrop. The euphoria and intensity of each work owe much to the continuing influence of music on Hunter's work. For this body of work he credits underground Melbourne rock band, The Drones, as a strong influence, responding to the sense of place and atmosphere in their music. Similarly, The Dirty Three. Like songs, the works have their own rhythms and wildness; they move beneath jewel-like surfaces, shifting between the delicate and atmospheric to strong and turbulent.
"Hunter is clearly engaged with the language of painting and expertly combines his formal artistic training and influences such as (Soutine, Guston and Molvig) with these elements from his immediate environment." Clare Lewis, All Times Through Paradise, GRANTPIRRIE 2007
Todd Hunter has exhibited in numerous group and solo exhibitions in Australia and in Asia. He was awarded the Melville Haysom Scholarship and has been selected for numerous painting awards. Many of his previous works reside in Australian and international corporate, government and private collections
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